Lord Saltoun and Auchanachie [Child 239]

DESCRIPTION: Jeanie Gordon loves (Auch)anachie, but her father would have her wed Lord Saltoun, who is old but wealthy. The wedding is carried out despite her wishes. She faints and dies. Auchanachie arrives the next day, learns of her death, and dies himself.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1824 (Maidment)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Jeanie Gordon loves (Auch)anachie, but her father would have her wed Lord Saltoun, who is old but wealthy. The wedding is carried out despite her wishes. The servants cut her out of her gown so that Saltoun may bed her. She faints and dies. Auchanachie arrives the next day, learns of her death, and dies himself.
KEYWORDS: wedding separation age love death
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Child 239, "Lord Saltoun and Auchanachie" (2 texts)
Bronson 239, "Lord Saltoun and Auchanachie" (1 version)
Buchan/Moreira-TheGlenbuchatBallads, pp. 25-26, "Auchynachy Gordon" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan5 1021, "Lord Salton and Auchanachie" (2 text plus 2 verses on p. 618, 1 tune)
Leach-TheBalladBook, pp. 239-597, "Lord Saltoun and Auchanachie" (1 text)
DT 239, ANGORDON*
Roud #102
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Johnny Doyle [Laws M2]" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Annachie
Annachie Gordon
NOTES [112 words]: Possibly related to the Swedish ballad "Stolt Ingrid [Proud Ingrid]"? - PJS
William Bernard McCarthy, in the article "'Barbara Allen' and 'The Gypsy Laddie': Single-Rhyme Ballads in the Child Corpus," printed on pp. 143-154 of Thomas A. McKean, editor, The Flowering Thorn: International Ballad Studies, Utah State University Press, 2003, makes the interesting observation that this is the only ballad in the Child corpus where the predominant meter is four beats in all four lines with a rhyme scheme of aabb (with the last line generally ending with the name "Auchanachie"). I have no idea whether this might be responsible for its relatively limited distribution. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.7
File: C239

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