Lady Maisry (also known as "Bonnie Susie Cleland") is
Child ballad
The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as '' ...
65, existing in many variants.
Synopsis
The heroine—Maisry, Janet, Margery, Marjory, Susie—becomes pregnant (sometimes after rejecting many Scottish lords). She declares that she will not surrender her (often English) true love. Her family goes to burn her. A page boy goes to fetch the true love, but he arrives too late.
Many variants end with his vows of revenge on all her family, and often on all the lands about. In some, he adds that he will remember the page boy, sometimes resolving to become a pilgrim after his revenge.
In some, he dies of grief, or goes mad.
Motifs
The woman sentenced to death for unchastity is a common motif in
romances and
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
s. The description of the page boy's journey is similar to a passage in
Matty Groves.
Performers
*
Kathy and Carol
Kathleen Larisch and Carol McComb are American singers and instrumentalists, who performed together in the 1960s as Kathy and Carol. As a duo, they released an acclaimed 1965 folk song album on Elektra Records, before pursuing separate careers. ...
cover the song on their self-titled debut album of 1965.
*
Lady Maisery
Lady Maisery are an England, English folk music, folk vocal harmony trio composed of Hannah James (Singing, vocals, piano accordion, Clogging, clogs, foot percussion), Hazel Askew (vocals, melodeon, concertina, harp, bells) and Rowan Rheinga ...
perform a version of the song on their album 2013 Mayday.
*
Cecil Sharp collected a version at Bridgwater in 1906.
[Woods, Fred (1983) ''The Oxford Book of English Traditional Verse''. Oxford: Oxford University Press; pp. 33-34 & 372]
*
June Tabor and the Oyster Band have a version, "Bonnie Susie Clelland
References
External links
"Lady Maisry" with commentary
Child Ballads
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