Love at the Brig o' Don

DESCRIPTION: Bess and Jock were to be married. A barber seduces Bess. Jock tries unsuccessfully to commit suicide by jumping off the brig of Don. Bess, deserted by the barber and alone, has a baby born with "the brig o' Don arch ... mark'd on o' his forehead"
AUTHOR: Alexander Robb (1781-1859) (source: Greig/Duncan6)
EARLIEST DATE: 1824 (George Smith's _Douglas Travestie_)
LONG DESCRIPTION: The singer's grandfather tells about Bess -- a widowed farmer's daughter -- and Jock who were to be married. A barber came from Auld-town and met Bess. After they danced "she discarded poor Jock." Jock tried to commit suicide by jumping off the brig of Don, but was rescued. He ran away, never to be heard from again. Bess, deserted by the barber, had the barber's baby, born with "the brig o' Don arch ... mark'd on o' his forehead."
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity sex childbirth humorous baby abandonment suicide river seduction
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #42, p. 2, "Love at the Brig o' Don" or "My Auld Lucky-Dady's Tale" (1 fragment)
Greig/Duncan6 1208, "Love at the Brig o' Don" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: The Scottish Journal of Topography, Antiquities, Traditions (London, 1848 ("Digitized by Google")), Vol. I, p. 51, ("There was an auld farmer, my grandfather ken'd him") (1 text)
George Smith, Douglas Travestie: to which are added Poems and Songs, Chiefly in the Broad Scottish Dialect (Aberdeen, 1824 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 133-134, "Love at the Brig o' Don; or "My Auld Lucky Dady's Tale" (1 text)
Roud #6796
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Legacy" (tune, per Smith)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
My Auld Lucky-dady's Tale
File: GrD61208

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