Uploaded May 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Four Maries / The Four Marys / Mary Mild / Mary Hamilton (Child No. 173) - Sung by William Mathieson of Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He learned the song either from John Shewan, a shepherd, or from a Mr. Fowlie at Gourdieburn when he was about ten years old. Recorded by Hamish Henderson in April 1952.
Note by Kevin W.:
This is an important version of Child 173, one of few recorded texts to preserve the original story about the infanticide. Nearly all recent texts have reduced the ballad into a short lyrical lament in which no reason for Mary Hamilton's hanging is given.
Mr. Mathieson told Hamish Henderson in 1952 that he learned the song from John Shewan, a shepherd, when he was about ten years old. However, when he sang it previously in the 1930s for Dr. James Madison Carpenter he told him that he had learned it from a Mr. Fowlie at Gourdieburn, Aberdeenshire thirty-eight years ago.
The text matches Child 173 Version M, from James Maidment's North Countrie Garland (1824, reprinted in 1891), but includes additional (non story relevant) stanzas:
http://71.174.62.16/Demo/LongerHarvest?Text=Child_d17313
Willie Mathieson wasn't known to be dishonest about ballad sources but it is thinkable that the person he got it from learned it from print, or filled out their short lyrical version of the song with print stanzas telling the full story. The date Willie Mathieson learned it was only a few years after the 1891 reprint of the North Countrie Garland.
Song transcription:
Then doon it cam Queen Mary
Wi gowd links in her hair,
Saying, "Mary Mild, where is the child
That I heard greet sae sair?"
Chorus:
"Yestreen the Queen had four Maries;
This nicht she'll hae but three:
There was Mary Beaton, an' Mary Seaton,
An' Mary Carmichael, an' me." [*]
"There was nae child wi me, madam;
There was nae child wi me.
It was but me in a sair colic
When I was like tae dee."
Chorus
"I'm not deceived," Queen Mary said.
"Nae, nae, indeed, not I.
Mary Mild, where is the child?
For sure I heard it cry."
Chorus
She turned doon the blankets fine,
Likewise the holland sheet,
An' underneath there strangled lay
A lovely baby sweet.
"O cruel mother," said the Queen,
"Some fiend possessed thee,
But I will hang you for this deed,
My Mary thoch you be."
Chorus
"O happy, happy is the maid
That's born o beauty free,
For it was my dimplin rosy cheeks
That's been the ruin o me."
"O often hae I dressed my queen
An' put gowd in her hair,
An' noo I got for my reward
The gallows tae be my share."
Chorus
"O little did my mother think
When first she cradled me
That I would dee sae far frae hame,
Or hang on a gallows tree."
They'll tie a napkin roun' my een,
An' they'll nae let me see tae dee;
An' they'll ne'er let on tae father an' mother,
But I'm awa' o'er the sea.
Chorus
When she cam tae the Netherbo Port,
She laughed loud lachters three,
But when she cam tae the gallows foot,
The saut tear blint her ee.
Chorus
"Ye mariners, ye mariners,
That sail upon the sea,
Let not my father or mother ken
The death that I maun dee."
"I was my parents' only hope;
They ne'er had ane but me;
They little thought when I left hame
The death that I should dee."
Chorus
* It should be noted that Willie did not use this verse as a chorus when he sang for Dr. Carpenter in the 1930s. He only sang it once as the final verse.
Four Maries / The Four Marys / Mary Mild / Mary Hamilton (Child No. 173) - Sung by William Mathieson of Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He learned the song either from John Shewan, a shepherd, or from a Mr. Fowlie at Gourdieburn when he was about ten years old. Recorded by Hamish Henderson in April 1952.
Note by Kevin W.:
This is an important version of Child 173, one of few recorded texts to preserve the original story about the infanticide. Nearly all recent texts have reduced the ballad into a short lyrical lament in which no reason for Mary Hamilton's hanging is given.
Mr. Mathieson told Hamish Henderson in 1952 that he learned the song from John Shewan, a shepherd, when he was about ten years old. However, when he sang it previously in the 1930s for Dr. James Madison Carpenter he told him that he had learned it from a Mr. Fowlie at Gourdieburn, Aberdeenshire thirty-eight years ago.
The text matches Child 173 Version M, from James Maidment's North Countrie Garland (1824, reprinted in 1891), but includes additional (non story relevant) stanzas:
http://71.174.62.16/Demo/LongerHarvest?Text=Child_d17313
Willie Mathieson wasn't known to be dishonest about ballad sources but it is thinkable that the person he got it from learned it from print, or filled out their short lyrical version of the song with print stanzas telling the full story. The date Willie Mathieson learned it was only a few years after the 1891 reprint of the North Countrie Garland.
Song transcription:
Then doon it cam Queen Mary
Wi gowd links in her hair,
Saying, "Mary Mild, where is the child
That I heard greet sae sair?"
Chorus:
"Yestreen the Queen had four Maries;
This nicht she'll hae but three:
There was Mary Beaton, an' Mary Seaton,
An' Mary Carmichael, an' me." [*]
"There was nae child wi me, madam;
There was nae child wi me.
It was but me in a sair colic
When I was like tae dee."
Chorus
"I'm not deceived," Queen Mary said.
"Nae, nae, indeed, not I.
Mary Mild, where is the child?
For sure I heard it cry."
Chorus
She turned doon the blankets fine,
Likewise the holland sheet,
An' underneath there strangled lay
A lovely baby sweet.
"O cruel mother," said the Queen,
"Some fiend possessed thee,
But I will hang you for this deed,
My Mary thoch you be."
Chorus
"O happy, happy is the maid
That's born o beauty free,
For it was my dimplin rosy cheeks
That's been the ruin o me."
"O often hae I dressed my queen
An' put gowd in her hair,
An' noo I got for my reward
The gallows tae be my share."
Chorus
"O little did my mother think
When first she cradled me
That I would dee sae far frae hame,
Or hang on a gallows tree."
They'll tie a napkin roun' my een,
An' they'll nae let me see tae dee;
An' they'll ne'er let on tae father an' mother,
But I'm awa' o'er the sea.
Chorus
When she cam tae the Netherbo Port,
She laughed loud lachters three,
But when she cam tae the gallows foot,
The saut tear blint her ee.
Chorus
"Ye mariners, ye mariners,
That sail upon the sea,
Let not my father or mother ken
The death that I maun dee."
"I was my parents' only hope;
They ne'er had ane but me;
They little thought when I left hame
The death that I should dee."
Chorus
* It should be noted that Willie did not use this verse as a chorus when he sang for Dr. Carpenter in the 1930s. He only sang it once as the final verse.
