Duke of Athole's Nurse, The [Child 212]

DESCRIPTION: The Duke's (?) new leman bids his nurse (and former leman) bring her love a message. The nurse gathers her (seven) brothers to kill him instead. He asks the tavern's landlady to hide him; she disguises him as a baking maid. The brothers fail to kill him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1803 (Skene ms.)
KEYWORDS: love abandonment brother disguise cross-dressing escape
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber),England(North))
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Child 212, "The Duke of Athole's Nurse" (6 texts)
Bronson 212, "The Duke of Athole's Nurse" (9 versions)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads 212, "The Duke of Athole's Nurse" (2 versions: #4, #9)
Buchan/Moreira-TheGlenbuchatBallads, pp. 158-160, "The Lord at the Bakin" (1 text)
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #84, pp. 1-2, "The Duke of Athole's Nurse"; #86, p. 2, "Duke o' Athole's Nurse" (2 texts plus 1 fragment)
Greig/Duncan1 160, "The Duke of Athole's Nurse" (10 texts, 6 tunes) {A=Bronson's #9, B=#4, C=#6, E=#7, F=#2}
Whitelaw-BookOfScottishBallads, pp. 105-106, "Duke of Athol's Nurse" (1 text)
Leach-TheBalladBook, pp. 566-568, "The Duke of Athole's Nurse" (1 text)
DT 212, DUKATHOL*
Roud #3393
NOTES [31 words]: The opening of this song is a bit confused. Whose love is the new leman? The Duke's? The nurse's former love? Someone else's? It hardly affects the plot, but the pronouns are confusing. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.1
File: C212

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography