| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
202 Indiana University Publications, Folklore Series
35 YOUNG EDWIN IN THE LOWLANDS LOW
Only one text of this English song has been recovered in Indiana. For references and texts, see Campbell and Sharp, No. 46; Cox, p. 345; Flanders and Brown, p. 106; Journal, XX, 274; XXXV, 421; XLV, 40; XLIX, 230; Mackenzie, Ballads, p. 92; Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern High-lands, p. 164; Wyman and Brockway, Songs, p. 42.
English versions appear in Greig, Folk-Song of the North-Easty II, art. 123; JFSS, I, 124; III, 266; VIII, 227; Journal of the Irish Folk-Song Society, III, 24.
JFSS, VII, 217, contains the Welsh analogues "Vad traaue yn Keayn" (They Were Ploughing the Wave) and "Yn Shiaulteyr" (The Sailor).
"Edwin Doe." Contributed by Mrs. Dora Ward, of Princeton, Indiana. Gibson County. Learned from an aunt, Miss Carrie McMurtry, more than fifty years ago. April 6, 1935.
1. T was five long years or better since Edwin left his home; He went unto young Emily's house and she was all alone. He went unto young Emily's house his gold dust for to show That he had gained while on the main he plowed the lowlands
low.
2. "My father keeps a public inn down by the seashore side;
Go there, my honored lover, and there till morning bide. I'll meet you there in the morning; don't let my parents
know Your name is young Edwin who plows the lowlands low."
3. Young Edwin being weary he went unto his bed,
But little did he think of the sorrow that overcrowned his
head. Said Emily's cruel father, "His gold will make a show; We will send his body a-sinking down in the lowland low."
4. While Emily was a-sleeping, she dreamed a dreadful dream; She dreamed she saw her lover down in a crystal stream. She arose just at the dawning to see how her love did go, Because she loved him dearly who plowed the lowlands low. |
||