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The Braes o Yarrow

"The Dowie Dens o Yarrow", also known as "The Braes of Yarrow" or simply "Yarrow", is a Scottish border ballad (Roud 13, Child 214). It has many variants (Child collected at least 19) and it has been printed as a broadside, as well as published in song collections. It is considered to be a folk standard, and many different singers have performed and recorded it.

Synopsis

The song describes an unequal conflict between a group of men and one man, concerning a lady. This takes place in the vicinity of Yarrow. The one man succeeds in overcoming nearly all his opponents but is finally defeated by (usually) the last one of them.

In some versions, the lady (who is not usually named) rejects a number (often nine) wealthy suitors, in preference for a servant or ploughman. The nine make a pact to kill the other man and they ambush him in the "Dens of Yarrow".

There lived a lady in the West,

I neer could find her marrow;

She was courted by nine gentlemen

And a ploughboy-lad in Yarrow.

These nine sat drinking at the wine,

Sat drinking wine in Yarrow;

They made a vow among themselves

To fight for her in Yarrow.^[1]

In some versions it is unclear who the nine (or other number of men) are; in others, they are brothers or are men sent by the lady's father.^[2] In the ensuing fight, eight of the attackers are generally killed or wounded, but the ninth (often identified as the lady's brother, John or Douglas) fatally wounds the victim of the plot, usually by running him through with a sword and often by a cowardly blow, delivered from behind.

Four he hurt, an five he slew,

Till down it fell himsell O;

There stood a fause lord him behin,

Who thrust his body thorrow.^[3]

The lady may see the events in a dream, either before or after they take place and usually has some sort of dialogue with her father about the merits of the man who has been ambushed and killed.

"O hold your tongue, my daughter dear,

An tak it not in sorrow;

I’ll wed you wi as good a lord

As you’ve lost this day in Yarrow."

"O haud your tongue, my father dear,

An wed your sons wi sorrow;

For a fairer flower neer sprang in May nor June

Nor I’ve lost this day in Yarrow."^[4]

Some versions of the song end with the lady grieving: in others she dies of grief.^[5]

Commentary

Dowie is Scots and Northumbrian English for sad, dismal, dull or dispirited ,^[6][7] den Scots and Northumbrian for a narrow wooded valley.^[8][7]

The ballad has some similarities with the folk song "Bruton Town" (or "The Bramble Briar"). This song contains a similar murderous plot, usually by a group of brothers, and directed against a servant who has fallen in love with their sister. It also includes the motif, present in some versions of "The Dowie Dens o Yarrow", of the woman dreaming of her murdered lover before discovering the truth of the plot. However, the rhythmical structure of the two songs is quite different and there is no obvious borrowing of phraseology between them.^[9]

Historical background

The song is closely associated with the geographical area of the valley of the Yarrow Water that extends through the Scottish borders towards Selkirk. Almost all versions refer to this location, perhaps because the rhyming scheme for multiple verses, in most versions, relies on words which more or less rhyme with "Yarrow": "marrow", "morrow", "sorrow", "thorough", "narrow", "arrow" and "yellow" for example.

The song is believed to be based on an actual incident. The hero of the ballad was a knight of great bravery, popularly believed to be John Scott, sixth son of the Laird of Harden. According to history, he met a treacherous and untimely death in Ettrick Forest at the hands of his kin, the Scotts of Gilmanscleugh in the seventeenth century.^[10] However, recent scholars are sceptical about this story as the origin of the song.^[11]

Cultural relationships

Standard references

• Roud 13
• Child 214
• A version is published in Gordon Hall Gerould's Old English and Medieval Literature^[12]

Broadsides

There are several broadside versions:

• National Library of Scotland, reference RB.m.143(120)^[13]

Textual variants

There are numerous versions of the ballad. Child recorded at least 19, the earliest of which was taken from Walter Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1803).^[14] However, the song is much older: William Hamilton of Bangour wrote a poem called "The Braes of Yarrow" which has some basis in the ballad. It appears in a collection of his poems first published in Edinburgh in 1724.^{[citation needed]} It is said to be "written in imitation of an old Scottish ballad on a similar subject".^[15][16] There are also American versions which go under the corrupted title of "Derry Dens of Arrow."^[17] The ballad has also been linked to the American folk song "The Wayfaring Stranger," but there is little solid evidence for any relationship between them.

Non-English variants

Child points out the similarity with "Herr Helmer", a Scandinavian ballad (TSB D 78; SMB 82; DgF 415; NMB 84). In this, Helmer marries a woman whose family are in a state of feud with him because of the unavenged killing of her uncle. Helmer meets his seven brothers-in-law and a fight ensues. He kills six, but spares the seventh who treacherously kills him.^[18]

Recordings

Musical variants

The following is the tune as sung by Ewan MacColl:

Scottish composer Hamish MacCunn composed an orchestral ballad of the same title.