Lady Margret- Fitzgerald (VA) 1918 Sharp G
[My title replacing the generic Child title. From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, Sharp/Karpeles 1932. Additional text Bronson No. 20 from Sharp MS. This version is similar to the dozen version from the Shenandoah region in Virginia.
R. Matteson 2014]
G. [Lady Margret] Sung by Mr. CLINTON FITZGERALD at Royal Orchard, Afton, Va., April 28, 1918
Heptatonic. Dorian.
Lady Margret she mounted her milk-white steed,
Lord William his dappled grey.[1]
He drew his buckler down by his side,
And so he went riding a way.
Light off, light off, Lady Margret, he said,
And hold my reins in your hand,
Till I go fight your seven brothers bold
And your father by them stand.
She held, she held, O she better[2], better held
And she never shed one tear,
Until she seen her seven brothers fall
And her father she loved so dear'
She pull-ed her silk handkerchief,
Which were both soft and fine,
And she wiped off her father's bloody wounds
Till they ran more clearer than wine.
She lighted on her milk-white steed,
Lord William his dapple bay.
He drew his buckler down by his side,
And so he went riding away.
They rode, they rode, O they better, better rode
They rode by the light of the moon;
They rode till they came to his own mother's door,
Crying: Mother, are you at home?
Lord William he died about midnight,
Lady Margret just before day,
I hope every couple that may come together
May have more pleasure than they.
1. 1932, "dappled bay"
2. Editor's MS. query: "bitter?"