Lonesome Valley- Sol Shelton (NC) 1916 Sharp MS
[My title. From Sharp's MS. Here's an old version from an MS found in the possession of Sharp's informant Sol (Solomon) Shelton of Alleghany (Madison County) in 1916. (cf. In Zepo Town). The Shelton's and most of Sharp's informants in that region of NC are descended from Roderick who was b. 1754 in Virginia. This version dates back surely far into the 1800s.
Sharp, version A, is from Solomon's daughter and is very similar in places.
R. Matteson 2015]
Lonesome Valley [One Evening All Alone] - From Sol Shelton's MS; 1916
One evening all alone a-talking
Her brother cease[d] [talking] for to overhear[1]
Saying: Your courtship now will soon be ended,
We'll force him along into his grave.
They rose up early the next morning
A game of hunting for to go
And upon this young man they both insisted,
For him to go along with them.
They wandered over hills and mountains
And through a many of a place unknown
Till at last they became to a lonesome valley
And there they killed him dead alone.
When they returned back the next evening
Their sister ask[ed] for the servant man,
Saying: we lost him on a game of hunting,
No more of him it's could we find.
While she lie on her bedside slumbering
The servant man did appear to her
Saying: Your brother killed me rough[1] and cruel
All wallowed in a gore[2] of blood.
She rose up early the next morning,
She dressed herself in rich array,
Saying; I'll go find my best beloved,
All wallowed in a gore[2] of blood.
She wandered over hills and mountains
And through a many of a place unknown
Till at last she became to the lonesome valley
And there she found him dead alone.
Saying: Your eyes look like some bloody butcher,
Your eyes look like some salt or brine.
She kissed his cold, cold lips and crying,
Said: You are the darling bosom friend of mine.
When she returned back the next evening
Her brothers asked her where she'd been
O hold your tongue, you deceitful villains
For one alone you both shall hang.
Her brothers then they came convicted
To jump in a boat and finally leave[3]
The wind did blow and the waves came o'er them
They made their graves in the deep blue sea.
1. "chanced" for to overhear [cf. Stella Solomon ).
usually "rash and cruel"
2. MS has "score"
3. "find relief" is found in "Zepo Town"