“The Miller's Daughter (The Fleeing Servant)”

Description

The youth and the miller's daughter find themselves on the hill; she starts to seduce him. He flees to the miller, saying, ""O, I have served you seven long years and never sought a fee, And I will serve you seven more if you'll keep your lass from me."

Supplemental text

Miller's Daughter, The (The Fleeing Servant)
  Complete text(s)

          *** A ***

(No title)

From (George R. Kinloch), The Ballad Book (1827), number VI,
pp. 23-24. No source listed.

The lassie and the laddie
  Gaed out to wauk the mill,
And waly was the weel made bed
  The laddie lay intil.

The laddie gaed to bar the door,
  The lassie gaed wi' him,
And aw it cam into her mind,
  Wi' him she wad lie doun.

She's casten aff her petticoat,
  And sae has she her goun,
Atween the laddie and the wa'
  I wat she did lie doun.

Up gat the nakit fallow,
  And ran frae toun to toun,
And there he spied his master,
  Was walking up and doun.

"The cauld's taen me, master,
  The cauld has taken me,
The hire-quean has tane my bed,
  And I am forc'd to flee.

O I hae served ye seven lang years,
  And never sought a fee,
And I will serve ye ither seven,
  And haud that quean frae me.

It's up the loan o' Charltoun,
  And doun the water o' Dee,
And oure the Cairn-'-mount, master,
  And farder I could flee."

Notes

Kinloch has no title for this piece, and of course doesn't list a source -- but I have to think it's traditional, simply because it doesn't make much sense as it stands. If he wants nothing to do with the girl, why does he go walking with her? It seems likely that a stanza is missing -- either one explaining how she trapped him alone, or one along the lines of "The Warranty Deed," explaining why she is desirable only when clothed.

The Penguin version of this apparently comes from A. L. Lloyd, and isn't much more detailed -- but looks to have been tidied up just a little.

This is one of the handful of humorous treatments of male fidelity -- a theme going back to the tale of Joseph and Potiphar's wife (Genesis 39:1-20), and the source of such tragic ballads as "Child Owlet" and "The Sheffield Apprentice." - RBW

References

1. Kinloch-BBook V, pp. 23-24, (no title) (1 text)
2. PBB 84, "The Miller's Daughter" (1 text)
3. ST KinBB06 (Full)
4. Roud #7151
5. BI, KinBB06