Apprentice Boy (I), The [Laws M12]

DESCRIPTION: The apprentice loves a noble lady. When her parents learn, they send him away. But he prospers in a foreign land and returns to England to claim his bride. At first she rejects him, thinking him a nobleman, but he reveals his identity and the two are wed.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1813 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(156a))
KEYWORDS: courting separation reunion marriage apprentice
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,So,SE) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England(South,West)) Ireland
REFERENCES (16 citations):
Laws M12, "The Apprentice Boy"
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "LADY AND THE PRENTICE, THE"
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Wt 455, "Lady and Her Apprentice Boy" (1 text)
Baring-Gould/Sheppard-SongsOfTheWest2ndEd, #107, "The Lady and Prentice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 121, "The Apprentice Boy" (1 text)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H729, pp. 446-447, "The Apprentice Boy/Covent Garden" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-FolksongsFromSouthernNewBrunswick 26, "Cupid's Garden" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pound-AmericanBalladsAndSongs, 31, pp. 74-76, "The Prentice Boy" (1 text)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 104, "The Sailor Boy" (5 texts, mostly short, plus excerpts from 4 more and mention of 2 more and 1 very short fragment; of which "L" appears to mix this song with Laws K12)
Thompson-APioneerSongster 17, "The Prentice Boy" (1 text)
Forget-Me-Not-Songster, pp. 197-198, "The 'Prentice Boy" (1 text)
Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast 22, "The Apprentice Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 25, "The Prentice Boy" (1 text)
Creighton-SongsAndBalladsFromNovaScotia 45, "Prentice Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi 87, "The Prentice Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell-FolkSongsOfRoanokeAndTheAlbermarle 70, "Cupid's Garden" (1 text)
Roud #903
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(156a), "The Lady Who Fell in Love with a Prentice Boy", J. Evans (London), 1780-1812; also Firth c.18(119), "The Lady Who Fell in Love with a Prentice Boy"; Harding B 21(35), "The Lady and 'Prentice Boy"; Harding B 28(137), 2806 c.17(85), "Cupid's Garden" ("As down in Cupid's garden with pleasure I did walk, I heard two loyal lovers so sweetly for to talk"); Harding B 28(40), "Cupid's Garden" or "The 'Prentice Boy"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Castle Gardens" (theme)
NOTES [91 words]: In Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast and the Bodleian broadside the sailor wins a lottery.
Do not confuse this with another set of broadsides "The Lovers Meeting"/"Convent Garden"/"The Convent Garden Rambler"/"Cupid's Garden" which begins "As down in [Cupid's/Convent] garden with pleasure I did go, All for to view the flowers that in the garden grew" at Bodleian. This one has a sailor and Nancy, no apprentice, no lady, no lottery, and he sails away promising to return: see "Cupid's Garden (I) (Covent Garden I; Lovely Nancy III)"- BS
Last updated in version 6.7
File: LM12

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