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This is horrible, horrific stuff. The last verse indicates that Lamkin stabs the ‘bonny babe’ as the nurse sings a soothing song and the blood pours out of ‘ilkae bore’ – every hole – of the cradle. Lamkin’s plan works and the Lady asks “What ails my bairn, nurse that he’s greeting sae sair?” We have a short question and answer session in which the Lady enquires of the nurse what she has done to calm down the child.

“O still my bairn nurse
O still him wi’ the pap!  (breast)
He winna still, lady
For this nor for that.

O still my bairn nurse
O still him wi’ the wand!   (rattle)
He winna still, lady
For a’ his father’s land.

O still my bairn nurse
O still him wi’ the bell!
He winna still, lady
Till ye cam doun yoursel.”

After being asked to come down by the nurse, the Lady meets Lamkin on the steps. She seems to quickly understand what is happening as she says:

“O mercy, mercy Lamkin,
Hae mercy upon me!
Though you’ve ta’en my young son’s life,
Ye may let mysel be.”

Lamkin, possibly running out of anger and hate, invites the treacherous nurse to decide the fate of the Lady of the castle.

“O sall I kill her, nurse
Or sall I let her be?
O kill her, kill her, Lamkin
For she ne’er was guid tae me.”

The gruesome nature of Lamkin’s rage is not yet over. He asks the nurse to clean the basin so that he can collect the blood from her “For she’s cam o’ noble kin”. One interpretation that I read said that was because Lamkin wanted to make a black pudding from her blood! For once the nurse persuades Lamkin not to go through with this action. She says:

“Thaur need nae basin, Lamkin,
Let it run through the floor;
What better is the heart’s blood
O the rich than o’ the poor?”

At this point there is an abrupt switch in the narrative of the ballad. We leave the horrific bloody scene with Lamkin and the nurse and fast forward three months until the Lord himself returns from his travels. It seems as if his household has left everything pretty much as it was at the time of the murder.

“O whose blood is this, he says
That lies in the chamer?
It’s your lady’s heart’s blood;
Tis as clear as the lamer.  (amber)

And whase blood is this, he says,
That lies in my ha’?
It is your young son’s heart’s blood;
Tis the clearest o’ a'”.

As we come to the end of the ballad we find two contrasting images concerning the fate of Lamkin and the nurse. Both are being brought to justice and both are condemned to death. Lamkin’s death is contrasted with a black bird as it sings;

“O sweetly sang the black bird
That sat upon the tree;
But fairer greet Lamkin
When he was condemn’d tae die”.

Interestingly we don’t complete the ballad with the death of the murderer. Rather, the final verse concerns the fate of the nurse who betrayed her household;

“And bonny sang the mavis,  (thrush)
Out on the thorny brake,   (thicket)
But fairer greet the nurse,
When she was tied tae the stake”.

The wretchedness of violence

I have been focusing on one version of this ballad that seems to have its origins in Scotland. Child collected many versions of it from different parts of the British Isles. In some of the other versions there seem to be deeper hints and nods at the involvement of dark forces. I have tried to show how the level of violence involved within the ballad of Lamkin went beyond anything that could have been interpreted as simply human violence. The wiping out of an entire family as revenge could only have been understood as the work of the Devil.

The historical links to Micheal Scot, the same family that later built the castle of Balwearie in the 15th century that could be the castle featured in this ballad, would have increased the perception of demons and darkness surrounding this ballad. Yet I am unconvinced by these reasons for the violent deaths. I have come to prefer the first version of this ballad partly because it presents what happens without whispering of evil demons in the background and because it makes no attempt to explain why. This was an act by someone who had lost control of himself. Lamkin goes on a violent rampage because of two others; the noble Lord Balwearie who cheats Lamkin out of his money, and the wet nurse of the castle household who sees an opportunity to get rid of her Lady.

There are echoes of this violent rampage in Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’. In Act 4 scene 1 Macbeth realises he needs to take action against MacDuff. However, rather than taking action against MacDuff himself, Macbeth, just like Lamkin, decides to act against his family.

“Time, thou anticipat’st my dread exploits.
The flighty purpose never is o’ertook
Unless the deed go with it. From this moment
The very firstlings of my heart shall be
The firstlings of my hand. And even now,
To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done:
The castle of Macduff I will surprise,
Seize upon Fife, give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool.
This deed I’ll do before this purpose cool.
But no more sights!—Where are these gentlemen?
Come, bring me where they are.”

It is always those who are left after barbaric acts to strain their way towards meaning.

I opened this blog with the only recorded song of this version of the ballad that I have been able to find sung by The Pratie Heads. I close with a haunting version of one of the English versions of the ballad sung by the Wainwright Sisters.

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Further reading

Robert Burns and the Hellish Legion, John Burnett.2009, Edinburgh. NMS Enterprises.

The Folk Handbook: Working with Songs from the English Tradition
By John Morrish, Rikky Rooksby, Mark Brend, Nigel Williamson, David Atkinson. 2007. New York City. Backbeat Books.

Folklore in Lowland Scotland. Eve Blantyre Simpson. 2013. Kindle Edition. Albacraft.