Fair Mary of Wallington or Fair Lady of Wallington is Child ballad 91 and number 59 in the Roud Folk Song Index. Child lists at least seven variants of the ballad. The first variant is titled "Fair Mary of Wallington", while another variant (variant C) is titled "The Bonny Early of Livingston".

Synopsis

Two sisters had once been two of seven, but all their sisters had died in childbirth. The older vows never to marry, but is married off to a knight who lives in

Wallington Hall Wallington is a country house and gardens located about west of Morpeth, Northumberland, England, near the village of Cambo. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1942, after it was donated complete with the estate and farms by Sir Ch ...

. She becomes pregnant and sends for her mother when she is in childbed. She dies; in most variants, the baby has to be saved by cutting open her side. In many variants, the youngest sister vows never to marry, but her father insists that he will marry her off.

Traditional Versions

The only version recorded from a source singer was

James Madison Carpenter James Madison Carpenter, born in 1888 in Blacklands, Mississippi, near Booneville, in Prentiss County, was a Methodist minister and scholar of American and British folklore. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the ...

's recording of

Bell Duncan Bell Duncan (8 August 1849 – 5 January 1934), also known as Isobel, Isabella and Elizabeth, was a traditional singer from Aberdeenshire, Scotland. She was born in Forgue, Aberdeenshire in 1849, to George Duncan (1814-1903) a farmer, and Jane ...

(1849-1934) of

Forgue Forgue is a hamlet in Aberdeenshire. It lies northwest of Aberdeen and northeast of Huntly. The Glendronach distillery is located in Forgue. Notable residents * George Bartlet, Dean of Aberdeen and Orkney * Sir George Stuart Forbes, Indian ...

, Aberdeenshire,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

; the original recording is available on the

Vaughan Williams Memorial Library The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML) is the library and archive of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), located in the society's London headquarters, Cecil Sharp House. It is a multi-media library comprising books, periodic ...

website.

Breton Variant

A Breton ballad, ''Pontplancoat'', appears too similar in form to this not to be from a common source: Pontplancoat marries a woman named Marguerite as his third wife. When he has to leave her, he dreams she has been three days in labor. Disturbed, he returned immediately to find it was true. Marguerite died, and the baby was saved by cutting open her side. This is his third son, both his earlier wives having died the same way.

References

Child Ballads Northumbrian folklore French folklore {{Folk-song-stub

Synopsis

Traditional Versions

Breton Variant

See also

References