Herd Laddie, The (The Herdie)

DESCRIPTION: "Oh for the innocent days I hae see, When a' my young thoughts they were happy and keen." In those days he herded the cattle and swam with "wee Jenny," then used their clothes for beds. He recalls other details of his early life
AUTHOR: William Scott of Fetterangus (1785-?) (source: Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast)
EARLIEST DATE: 1832 (Scott, Poems, Chiefly in the Buchan Dialect, according to Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast)
KEYWORDS: courting animal sex home work
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #6, p. 1, "The Hirdie"; #3, p. 1, "The Hirdie" (1 text plus 1 fragment)
Greig/Duncan3 429, "The Herd Laddie" (7 short texts, 6 tunes)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, pp. 269-270, "The Herdie" (1 text)
Roud #5594
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Hills of Glenorchy" (tune, per Greig)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Herd Loon
NOTES [72 words]: Greig: "'The Hirdie,' another of his [Scott's] songs, is perhaps as well-known as 'Johnnie Sangster.' A verse will recall it to many readers:...." It was well-known enough that Greig never thought it worth while to print more than that one verse.- BS
This seems like it should lead to a conclusion -- the girl getting pregnant, the lad getting fired, something. But it doesn't. Unless Ord, like Greig, was suppressing the ending. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.6
File: Ord269

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