A. L. Lloyd and Reynardine: authenticity and authorship in the afterlife of a British broadside ballad

Folklore, Dec, 2004 by Stephen D. Winick

The revival version, then, is the only one told from the point of view of a third-person narrator who witnesses the meeting of the protagonists. This suggests a careful attempt to meld the first-person broadside opening (from Reynardine's point of view) with the first-person stanzas from Campbell and Hughes (from the girl's perspective) in a way that makes grammatical sense. It also strengthens the case for suggesting that this version is by Lloyd rather than a product of oral tradition. Finally, it accounts for the unique half-stanzas pointed out earlier; they must have been written by Lloyd to connect the diverse scraps into a coherent song.

As we can see from the aforementioned quatrains, Lloyd's original version did not contain the line "his teeth did brightly shine," but rather "his eyes did brightly shine," which is identical to Hughes's text. However, Lloyd's later recording of the song most definitely has Reynardine's teeth shining brightly, along with several additional verses derived from broadside texts. That version, which appeared on Lloyd's LP, First Person, is as follows:

   One evening as I rambled
   Among the springing thyme,
   I overheard a young woman
   Conversing with Reynardine.

   Her hair was black, her eyes were blue,
   And her mouth as red as wine,
   And he smiled to look upon her,
   Did the sly, bold Reynardine.

   She said, "young man, be civil
   And my company forsake,
   For to my good opinion
   I fear you are a rake."

   He said, "My dear, I am no rake
   Brought up in Venus's train,
   But I'm searching for concealment
   All from the judge's men."

   Her cherry cheek and ruby lip
   They lost their former dye,
   And she fell into his arms there
   All on the mountain high.

   They hadn't kissed but once or twice
   Till she come to again,
   And modestly she asked him,
   "Pray, tell to me your name."

Authenticity and Authorship of a British Broadside Ballad

   He says if by chance you look for me
   Perhaps you'll not me find,
   But I'll be in my castle,
   Inquire for Reynardine

   Day and night she followed him
   His teeth so bright did shine,
   And he led her over the mountain,
   Did this sly, bold Reynardine (Lloyd 1966; transcription mine).

On comparing Lloyd's two versions four things are revealed. First, Lloyd's original version from the 1950s bears scant relation to any orally collected or broadside version, containing instead lines mostly derived from Campbell and Hughes. The likelihood that this was ever part of the oral tradition of "Reynardine" is slim, since it shares only a single stanza with any other such version. Later, when Lloyd changed the song significantly, sometime between 1956 and 1966, [8] elements of the broadside text (which closely resembles the oral versions) began to appear; the song doubled in length, and the additional verses were all from broadside ballad versions. Thus, it appears that Lloyd created his first text mostly from Irish literary versions, and later added lines from broadsides.