False Lover Won Back, The [Child 218]

DESCRIPTION: A man saddles his horse to leave his lover (and her unborn child). She follows him from place to place, begging him to return. At each stop he buys her a gift and tells her to go home. At last he repents and buys her a wedding ring
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1828 (Buchan)
KEYWORDS: abandonment hardheartedness marriage love
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) US(So)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Child 218, "The False Lover Won Back" (2 texts)
Bronson 218, "The False Lover Won Back" (5 versions)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads 218, "The False Lover Won Back" (4 versions: #1, #2, #3, #5)
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #93, pp. 1-3, "The False Lover Won Back" (5 texts)
Greig/Duncan5 974, "The False Lover Won Back" (8 texts plus two verses on p. 603, 4 tunes)
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, p. 78, "The False Lover Won Back" (1 text)
Leach-TheBalladBook, pp. 575-576, "The False Lover Won Back" (1 text)
Whitelaw-BookOfScottishBallads, p. 221, "The Fause Lover" (1 text)
Quiller-Couch-OxfordBookOfBallads 72, "Young John" (1 text)
DT 218, BONLOVE*
ADDITIONAL: W. Christie, editor, Traditional Ballad Airs (Edinburgh, 1876 (downloadable pdf by University of Edinburgh, 2007)), Vol I, pp. 144-145, "The Place Where My Love Johnny Dwells" [Child 218B]
Peter Buchan, Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1875 (reprint of 1828 edition ("Digitized by Google"))), Vol I, pp. 261, 313, "The Fause Lover"
Roud #201
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "The False Lover Won Back" (on SCMacCollSeeger01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "My Foot Is in the Stirrup"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
It's Hard That I Like You Sae Weel
The Sun Shines High
Oh, When Will Ye Come Back, Bonny Love?
NOTES [27 words]: Greig's texts include one from Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs (1876-1881), and one from Buchan, Ancient Songs and Ballads of the North of Scotland (1828). - BS
Last updated in version 4.1
File: C218

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