Bonny Baby Livingston or Bonny Baby Livingstone 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 '' ...
number 222 (
Roud 100), existing in many variants. The ballad tells the story of a girl abducted and taken to the
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...
. She is able to get a message to her love, who, depending on the variation, is able to save her.
Synopsis
A girl named Barbara, Barbra, Annie, or Baby Livingstone is kidnapped by
Glenlion (or Glenlyon, Linlyon, or Glendinning). In most variants, he rapes her before or after he carries her home. In one variant, they stop to meet his brother, John, and stay at Auchingour. She gets a letter to her love at
Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
, by hiring a young boy. In some variants this lover, Johny Hay, arrives. She escapes through a window, and they make their get-away. In most, he arrives to find her dead, and is able only to kiss her dead lips and curse her kidnapper. In another variant, Jemmie arrives to Glendinning Castle to find Annie Livingstone dead.
See also
*
Scottish mythology
Scottish mythology is the collection of myths that have emerged throughout the history of Scotland, sometimes being elaborated upon by successive generations, and at other times being rejected and replaced by other explanatory narratives.
Natu ...
References
External links
''Bonny Baby Livingstone''
Child Ballads
Border ballads
Year of song unknown
Songwriter unknown
{{Folk-song-stub