Content provided in partnership with

A. L. Lloyd and Reynardine: authenticity and authorship in the afterlife of a British broadside ballad

Folklore, Dec, 2004 by Stephen D. Winick

<< Page 1 Continued from page 11. Previous | Next

Lloyd here acknowledges at least four interpretive possibilities for the ballad's protagonist: ordinary man, outlaw, supernatural lover, or serial killer. But he prefers to "preserve the mystery" rather than select an interpretation.

Lloyd's desire for mystery might well have driven him to create his version of the song. Those predating Lloyd's were singularly lacking in mystery, as DeNatale points out (DeNatale 1980, 43). Consider this one, printed by Wood of Liverpool and housed at Oxford's Bodleian Library:

   One evening in my rambles two miles below Pimroy,
   I met a farmer's daughter all on the mountains high,
   Her beauty so enticed me, I could not pass her by,
   So with my gun I'll guard her, all on the mountains high.

   I said my pretty creature I'm glad to meet you here,
   On these lonesome mountains your beauty shines so clear.
   She said kind sir, be civil, my company forsake,
   For it is my opinion, I fear you are some rake.

   Said he I am no rake, I'm brought up in Venus' train,
   I'm seeking for concealment, all in the judge's name.
   Oh! if my parents they did know your life they would destroy,
   For keeping of my company, all on the mountains high.

   I said my pretty creature don't let your parents know,
   For if you do they'll ruin me and prove my overthrow.
   This pretty little young thing she stood all in amaze,
   With eyes as bright as amber, upon me she did gaze.

   Her ruby lips and cherry cheeks, the lass of Firmadie,
   She fainted in my arms there, all on the mountains high.
   When I had kissed her once or twice, she came to herself again,
   And said kind sir be civil and tell to me your name.

   Go down in yonder forest, my castle there you'll find,
   Well wrote in ancient history my name is Rynadine.
   Come all you pretty fair maids a warning take by me,
   Be sure you quit night walking, and shun bad company,
   For if you don't you are sure to rue until the day you die,
   Beware of meeting Rynadine all on the mountains high.
   (Bodleian Library [1273])

There is nothing tangibly supernatural in this typical broadside version of "Reynardine." [13] Here Rynadine carries a gun, hides from the law, and fears the girl's parents--hardly the attributes of a being with supernatural powers. The opposite is true of Campbell's version, in which Reynardine has red eyes, escapes with ease, and is recognised as a fairy. In neither version is there any real mystery surrounding the protagonist's nature.

Hughes's is the only text with inherent ambiguity, and it is probably for this reason that Lloyd chose it as the basis for his own. In Hughes's version, Reynardine's ease in seducing the girl, and his shining eyes, suggest a kind of hypnotic power. Furthermore, where the broadside ends with a typical "come-all-ye" verse warning girls against the seductive stranger, Hughes's ends with the girl following Reynardine over the mountain. Thus, in the broadside version, any power Reynardine had over the girl is gone by the end, but the conclusion of Hughes's text intensifies the feeling that he has some mesmeric hold on her. These elements helped Lloyd in his quest to create a disquieting, ambiguous song.

A. L. Lloyd and Reynardine: authenticity and authorship in the afterlife of a British broadside ballad

Folklore, Dec, 2004 by Stephen D. Winick

Find Research Guides for:

Find Featured Titles for: Business

Most Popular Articles in Reference

Most Popular Publications in Reference