Lady Margaret- (VA) c.1947 Leach; 1950 JOAFL
Songs from Rappahannock County, Virginia by MacEdward Leach and Horace P. Beck
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 63, No. 249 (Jul. - Sep., 1950), pp. 257-284
"Lady Margaret" ("Fair Margaret and Sweet William") (Child 74)
This is like the typical story except that the ghost motif is entirely absent from the poem and William goes in daylight to see his love. No mention other than the first is made of his wife. However, it is in the latter part of the poem that the widest variations occur. In the last stanza particularly we notice a change in the rose-brier motif. William's grave produces nothing, while Lady Margaret's grave grows a brier that reaches over to Sweet William's breast and dies, for some reason, before it can tie itself in a true love's knot. Alone of all the variants, this one appears to point out an unrequited love, even after death. A. K. Davis, Jr., Traditional Ballads of Virginia, p. 221; Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, p. 134; Helen Flanders, Vermont Folk-
Songs and Ballads, p. 2I3. (Mrs. J.W.)
1 . I know nothing 'bout Lady Margaret,
Or she knows nothing about me.
But tomorrow night, before eight o'clock,
Lady Margaret my bride shall see.
2. Lady Margaret was sitting in her ivory hall,
A combing back her hair.
Oh it's who should she spy,
Twas Sweet William and his bride,
To the church altar as they drew nigh.
3. Down she threw her ivory comb,
And back she threw her hair.
And made a bow by her own bowing door, (bower door)
And was never seen there any more.
4. The night abeing gone an' the days a coming on,
When all men were awake.
Sweet William arose, put on his clothes,
Lady Margaret determined to find.
5. He rode, and he rode, and he rode,
And he rode 'till he came to her father's house.
There was no one but Lady Margaret's brother,
For to rise and let him in.
6. "Good morning, Sir, Good morning, Sir.
Oh pray, how do you do?
Oh which a way is Lady Margaret
Or is she now with thee?"
7. "She is neither in her clothes chamber,
Neither in her hall.
She is now in her closed coffin,
Stretched out by the side of the wall."
8. "Unfold, unfold those winding sheets,
And all that is so fine,
And let me kiss those cold clay lips
That oft times has kissed mine."
9. Three times he kissed her cold clay lips.
Three times he kissed her cheek.
Three times he kissed her cold clay lips,
And that enticed him in.
10. Lady Margaret died for pure, pure love.
Sweet William died for sorrow.
Lady Margaret died oh like today,
Sweet William died tomorrow.
11. And it sprung a red rose out of Lady Margaret's grave,
And it grown on Sweet William's breast.
If it had a grown but one more year
It would'a tied in a true love's knot.