Lonesome Valley- Pettit (KY) 1907 Kittredge
[No informant or date supplied; collected by Pettit in Hindman, KY. From: Ballads and Rhymes from Kentucky by G. L. Kittredge, The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 20, No. 79 (Oct. - Dec., 1907), pp. 251-277. Kittredge's notes follow.
Compare to the 1908 Combs MS version which is recovered from the same or a family source. It's possible this version is rewritten from the Margaret Combs 13 stanza text, which is corrupt in places.
R. Matteson 2016]
A less complete version, "In Bruton Town," with the tune, is printed in the " Journal of the Folk-Song Society," ii, 42-43; see, also, Sharp and Marson, "Folk-Songs from Somerset," No. 12, I, 25 (with note, p. 62). The general resemblance to Decameron, iv, 5 (Keats's "Isabella") is obvious. A similar broadside ballad is "The Merchant's Daughter; or, The Constant Farmer's Son," "Journal of the Folk-Song Society," i, 16o-161; J. Catnach broadside, Harvard College Library, fol. 216 in 25242.2, etc. The first two stanzas of " The Lonesome Valley" are very corrupt: it is the lady's brothers that disdain her lover, because he is a servant.
LONESOME VALLEY.
1. In yonder town there lived a merchant;
He had two sons and a daughter fair;
Away low down in a lone green meadow,
A raging sea there for to sail.
2. Six thousand pound was this lady's portion;
She was a fair and comely dame;
She loved a young man o'er the ocean,
Which caused her to look there so disdain[1].
3. They studied o'er this cruel matter;
Concluded a-hunting they would go;
And this young man they both did flatter,
Till a-hunting with them he did go.
4. They travelled over high hills and valleys,
And through strange places that were unknown;
At length they came to a lonesome valley,
And there they did him kill and throw[2].
5. All on that evening as they returned,
The sister asked for her servant man:
"What makes me ask, you seem to whisper[3]
Dear brothers, tell me if you can."
6. All on that night as she lay mourning,
Her true love stood by her bedside,
All covered over and the tears a-flowing,
All wallered over in the gores of blood.
7. All on next morning when she arose,
She dressed herself in silk so fine;
She travelled over high hills and valleys,
Her own true love for to find.
8. She travelled over high hills and valleys,
And through strange places that were unknown;
At length she came to a lonesome valley,
And there she found him killed and thrown.
9. His pretty cheeks with blood were dyed,
His lips were salt as any brine;
She kissed him o'er, and "Oh," she cried,
"You're the dearest bosom friend of mine."
10. Three days and nights she tarried with him,
Till she thought her heart would break with woe;
She felt sharp hunger approaching on her,
Which forced her back home to go.
11. All on that evening as she returned,
Her brothers asked her where she had been:
"You are too[4], hard-hearted, deceitful villains,
For him alone you both shall swing."
12. They studied o'er this bloody matter;
Concluded the ocean they would sail,
The wind did blow, and I think no wonder,
The sea did open and provide a grave.
1. compare to: She was resolved to bestow the same
2. usually "thrown" to rhyme.
3. The copy furnished has "You seem whisper." Broadwood's Hertfordshire text is clearer: "I ask, because I see you whisper"
4. two