Willie Drowned in Yarrow

DESCRIPTION: Willie's sweetheart waits for him to come and marry her. She asks if the singer had seen Willie. She searches for him. In a crack in a rock she finds him drowned in Yarrow.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1843 (Whitelaw-BookOfScottishSong) but see the note quoting Whitelaw.
KEYWORDS: love drowning
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #113, pp. 1-2, "Willie's Drowned in Yarrow" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan6 1230, "Willie Drowned in Yarrow" (3 texts plus a single verse on p. 581, 2 tunes)
Whitelaw-BookOfScottishSong, p. 456, "Willie's Drowned in Yarrow" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: W. Christie, editor, Traditional Ballad Airs (Edinburgh, 1876 (downloadable pdf by University of Edinburgh, 2007)), Vol I, pp. 64-65, "Willie's Drowned in Yarrow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6854
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie [Child 215]" (story) and references there
cf. "Willie's Drowned in Gamerie" (story)
cf. "The Duke of Athole's Nurse" (tune, per Greig/Duncan6)
NOTES [49 words]: Child 215A's four verses are included in Greig #113's 12 verses.
Whitelaw: "This is a fragment [11 verses; essentially the same as Greig minus a verse repetition] of a very old and pathetic song." - BS
Greig cites Whitelaw and Christie; the source for his text is a correspondent from Fyvie. - BS
Last updated in version 3.2
File: GrD61230

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