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The Duke of Athole’s Nurse

[ Roud 3393 ; Child 212 ; G/D 1:160 ; Ballad Index C212 ; trad.]

Folk Songs and Ballads of Scotland Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads The Oxford Book of Ballads Songs From North-East Scotland

Frankie Armstrong sang Little Duke Arthur’s Nurse in 1975 on her Topic album Songs and Ballads. A.L. Lloyd noted:

A jokey tale versified into a ballad balanced on a razor-edge of violence. Child called it The Duke of Athol’s Nurse, and it’s No. 212 in his collection. Seventy or eighty years ago it was still fairly common in Scotland, and Gavin Greig recorded seven versions in Aberdeenshire, mostly from women. This anglicised set is based mainly on the version sung to Greig by Alexander Robb, the school caretaker at New Deer, where Greig lived. We’re used to songs in which women dress as men; those in which men are the cross-dressers are rare. Frankie Armstrong remarks that whereas women put on men’s array for the sake of adventure and in search of wider horizons, the men merely end up looking silly. “Such songs tell us a lot about the relative status of the sexes,” says she.

Australian band Mara! sang Little Duke Arthur’s Nurse in 1984 on their Plant Life album Images.

June Tabor sang The Duke of Athole’s Nurse, “from the Greig mss. 1885-1914” on her 2003 album of (mostly) Border ballads, An Echo of Hooves.

Corinne Male sang Duke Arthur’s Nurse on her 2015 CD To Tell the Story Truly. She noted:

I learned this many years ago, probably in the 70s, from Frankie Armstrong’s Songs and Ballads album. The sleeve notes, by A.L. Lloyd, call this an “anglicised version” of the version of the Child Ballad, The Duke of Athol’s Nurse, collected by Gavin Greig from Alexander Robb.

Lyrics

Mara! sing Little Duke Arthur’s Nurse

Young Johnny rode out on a May morning
With his buckles and bridles ringing
And as he rode by the castle wall
He’s heard a sweet voice singing:

“Oh, I’m the little Duke Arthur’s nurse
And the post do well become me,
But I’d give both of me gay gold rings
For a sight and a kiss of me Johnny!”

“If you’re the little Duke Arthur’s nurse,
You’re my sweetheart so bonny,
Keep well, keep wealth of your gay gold rings,
And you’ll get two sights of your Johnny.”

So he’s leaned over his saddle bow
And he’s give a sweet kiss to her
Saying, “You have my heart but another has my hand,
So what good can it do you?”

She says, “If I have your heart but another has your hand
These words have fair undone me.
So let’s make a time when we’ll meet again
And then in love you can twine me.”

“So go you down to yon tavern house
With the welcoming light a-beckoning
And sure as I’m a woman true
I’ll come, love, and pay you your reckoning.”

Well he’s spared not the cheer of the Whitby beer,
And the wine he’s kept on pouring
And every glass he’s drank to the lass
Who was coming to him ere the morning.

And he’s looked out of the shop window
A little before the dawn-o
And there come running her brothers three
With their naked swords all a-drawn-o.

“Oh, landlady, landlady! What shall I do?
For me life’s not worth a halfpenny,
For she that was to lie with me
Has sent her brothers to slay me!”

She’s taken off her petticoat,
Likewise her gown and apron;
She’s taken the kerchief off of her head
And she’s set young Johnny to the baking.

Aye, she give him a suit of the female clothes –
He made a pretty fine maiden.
And the birds never sang so sweet in the trees
As young Johnny sang at the baking.

And when they stood in the kitchen door
They rattled their swords about ’em
And when they stood in the kitchen door
So loudly there they were shouting:

“Oh, did you have a lodger here last night
Who drank till the dawn was beckoning?
Then show us the room where the lodger is in
For we’ve come to settle his reckoning.”

“Aye, there came a stranger here last night,
But not to drink ’til the mornin’.
He’s called for a pint and he paid ’ere he left,
He was long gone john ’ere the dawnin’.

They stuck the feather beds all around and about,
Through the curtains their swords went rakin’
And as they ran in and as they ran out,
They said, “Ha! Bonnie lass, are ye bakin’?”

And one of them being in a very merry mood,
To young Johnny set to talkin’.
Well, the woman took her foot an’ she give him such a kick
Sayin’, “Git on, Annie, with your bakin’.”

And aye as the landlady ran in and out,
She scolded ’til their ears were achin’.
She said, “I have had this many a maid,
But none the likes o’ you wi’ the bakin!”

They’ve turned the house up, they’ve turned it down,
The crockery and platters breakin’
And every one of them that left that inn
He kissed the bonnie lass at the baking.

June Tabor sings The Duke of Athole’s Nurse

As I come in by the Duke of Athole’s gates
I head a girl sing bonny,
“It’s I would give all of my half-year’s fee
For a kiss and a sight of my Johnny.”

“You are the Duke of Athole’s nurse,
And oh but you sing bonny.
Keep well, keep well your half-year’s fee,
Here’s a sight and a kiss of your Johnny.”

He’s leaned him over his saddle bow
And given her kisses many,
“It’s you have my heart but another has my hand,
So what better are you of, Johnny?”

“If I have your heart but another has your hand,
These words have fairly undone me.
But come let us set a time to meet again,
So it’s in good friendship you’ll leave me.”

“You’ll go down to yonder alehouse
And drink ’til the day be a-dawning;
Spare not the beer although it be dear,
At the wine keep constantly drawing.
And as sure as the love that we both once had
I’ll come and I’ll clear your lawing.”

Se he’s gone down to yonder alehouse
And drank ’til the day was a-dawning;
And he spared not the beer although it was dear,
At the wine he kept constantly drawing.

And he’s looked out of the shot window
To see if the day was a-dawning,
And there he espied seven well-armed men
A-come for to clear his lawing.

“Oh landlady, landlady, what can I do?
My life it is not worth a farthing.
My love has sent all seven of her brothers;
I’ll be dead ere the day be a dawning.”

She’s take off her petticoat,
Likewise her gown and her apron.
She’s given him the bonnet from off of her head
And she’s set him down to the baking.
And the birds never sang so sweetly on the bush
As the young squire sang at the baking.

“Oh came there a stranger here last night
To drink ere the day was a-dawning?
Come show us the room that the stranger is in,
We’ve come for to clear his lawing.”

“There came a stranger here last night
But he left ere the day was a-dawning,
And he bought but a pint and he paid it ere we went
So he did not leave any lawing.”

They sought him up, they sought him down,
They spared not the feather beds a-turning,
And as they went but and as they went ben
They said, “Bonnie lassie, are you baking?”

They sought him up, they sought him down,
They spared not the curtains a-riving.
And aye as the landlady went but and ben
She scolded the lassie at her baking,
Saying, “I’ve had many and many’s the maid
But the likes of you I’ve never had baking.”

They sought him up, they sought him down,
Through hall and kitchen a-raking,
And each one of them as they passed by
Kissed the bonny lassie at her baking.

And for all that they called, for all that they sought,
They left the bonny lassie busy baking.