Lord Daniel's Wife- Smith (NC) c.1860s Brown A
[From the Brown Collection of NC Folklore- Volume 2 Ballads, 1953. The Brown editors notes follow. As a collector and informant (for Davis after Smith moved to Virginia), Thomas Smith's contributions are considered suspect. Many of the versions contributed to Davis and published in More Traditional Ballads of Virginia I consider to be ballad recreations based on print sources.
"Little Swift-foot" for example, is suspicious- however similar names have been found (foot speed etc). The attribution to a deceased family member, sung "Seventy years ago" or "fifty years ago" are also red flags.
Bronson attributes this version to a Mrs. Byers saying it was possibly collected by Smith. Davis does not print this in More Traditional Ballads of Virginia (1960) but he was given a copy by The Smiths and refers to The Brown Collection.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
OLDER BALLADS MOSTLY BRITISH
26. Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard (Child 81)
For the fortunes of this ballad in America (where it has lasted much better than in the country of its origin), see the admirable discussion by Barry (BBM 150-94) ; and for its geographical range, see BSM 57-8 — adding to the references there given Vermont (NGMS 135-9), Kentucky (BTFLS in 95, TKMS 62-71), North Carolina (FSRA 25-31), Missouri (OFS I 124-6), Ohio (BSO 48-51), and Michigan (BSSM 46-9). In addition to Barry's evidences for a distinctive and early American tradition for this ballad may be mentioned certain traits common to all or most of the American texts, both north and south, and rare or absent altogether in Child's British versions. One of these is the expression "cost me deep in purse" when the lord is telling of his two swords. The only approximation to this in the Child versions is in A, from a seventeenth-century print: "Full deere they cost my purse." But in America it appears in more than a score of texts ranging from Nova Scotia and Maine to North Carolina and to Missouri, sometimes in a corrupted form that shows the locution was heard but not understood, as in Cambiaire's reading "they cost me keep in purse" (ETWVMB 53). The expression sounds rather literary than dialectal, but it is a mark of the American texts. Another item peculiar to American texts is the form of punishment meted out to the lady by her injured husband". Nowhere in American texts do we find the savagery of Child A, "He cut her paps from off her breast"; but we do find, in texts ranging again from Nova Scotia to North Carolina and to Missouri, that he "split her head in twain," sometimes in a way to show that the locution was traditional but not understood: "cut her all up into twain" (TBV E), "split her head into twine" (SharpK B). The attempt of the lady by threats or bribery to prevent the page from carrying the news of her behavior to her husband, found in Child CDEFHIJKL, does not appear in American texts. That the bugle is blown as a warning by a friend of Musgrave's, a trait that appears in three of the texts in the present collection, is not exactly diagnostic; it is found in C J L of the Child versions and may perhaps be inferred in some of the others; and it appears sporadically in American texts both north and south, e.g., in BBM Fa Fb, TBV B, SCSM A, FSRA, SharpK I J K, FSSH A B, BSM, and BSSM.
A. 'Lord Daniel's Wife.' Written down by Thomas Smith of Zionville, Watauga county, from the singing of Bennett Smith, "who first heard it sung over 50 years ago"; sent in March 1914 to C. Alphonso Smith, and later to the North Carolina collection. Stanzas 3, 7, 8 are metrically defective and stanza 18 excessive.
1 Holly, holly, holliday!
The very first day of the year
Little Mattly Groves he went to church
God's holy word to hear, hear,
God's holy word to hear.
2 The first to come down was a gay ladye,[1]
The next to come down was a girl,
The next to come down was Lord Daniel's wife,
The fairest of them all, all, all,
The fairest of them all.
3 On Little Mattly Groves she cast her eye.
Saying, 'You must go home with me this night
For to lie, lie, lie,
You must go home with me for to lie.'
4 'I cannot go,' Little Mattly said,
'I cannot go for my life,
For I see by the ring that you wear on your finger
That you are Lord Daniel's wife, wife, wife,
That you are Lord Daniel's wife.'
5 'If I am Lord Daniel's wife.
Lord Daniel's not at home ;
He's gone away to old England
King Henry for to see, see, see.
King Henry for to see.'
6 Little Swift-foot he was standing by;
He heard the news and he ran
Till he came to the deep river side,
And he took off his shoes and he swam, swam, swam,
And he took off his shoes and he swam.
7 He swam till he came to the high dry land,
And he buckled on his shoes and he ran, ran, ran,
And he buckled on his shoes and he ran.
8 Till he came to the King's high gate;
And he pulled at the bell till it rang, rang, rang,
And he pulled at the bell till it rang.
9 'What news? What news?' Lord Daniel said,
'What news have you brought from home?
Has my wife gone to bed with a daughter,
Or has she gone to bed with a son, son, son,
Or has she gone to bed with a son?'
10 'She has neither gone to bed,' Little Swift-foot said,
'With a daughter or a son.
But has gone to bed with Little Mattly Groves,
And that is why I have come, come, come,
And that is why I have come.'
11 Lord Daniel mounted his trusty horse
And he rode till he came to his home.
He entered and found Little Mattly Groves
In bed with his wife in his room, room, room,
In bed with his wife in his room.
12 'How do you like my coverlets?
How do you like my sheets?
And how do you like my gay ladye
Who lies in your arms asleep, sleep, sleep,
Who lies in your arms asleep?'
13 'Very well I like your coverlets,
Very well I like your sheets;
Much better I like your gay ladye
Who lies in my arms asleep, sleep, sleep.
Who lies in my arms asleep.'
14 'Rise up ! Rise up!' Lord Daniel said,
'And put your clothing on.
It shall never be said in old England
That I slew an unclothed man, man, man,
That I slew an unclothed man.'
15 'If I must rise up," Little Mattly said,
'If I must fight for my life,
I see you have two broadedged swords,
And me not as much as a knife, knife, knife,
And me not as much as a knife.'
16 'It's true I have two broad-edged swords,
They cost me deep in the purse.
You can have the best of them
And I will take the worst, worst, worst,
And I will take the worst.'
17 The very first lick Little Mattly struck
He wounded deep and sore;
But the very first lick Lord Daniel struck
Little Mattly fell to die floor, floor, floor,
Little Mattly fell to the floor.
18 Lord Daniel took his wife on his knee,
Saying, 'How do you like my rosy cheeks,
And how do you like my chin?
And how do you like Little Mattly Groves
Who lies before you slain, slain, slain,
Who lies before you slain?'
19 'Very well I like your rosy cheeks,
Very well I like your chin;
Much better I like Little Mattly Groves
Than you and all your kin, kin, kin,
Than you and all your kin.'
1. MS has "ladaye."
[Music] A. 'Lord Daniel's Wife.' ms score written by Thomas Smith of Zionville, Watauga county, from the singing of Bennett Smith. Besides other similarities, the first three measures are practically identical with those of the Walker version, 26B.
For melodic relationship cf. **SharpK i 161-82. Although our tune is in 3/4 time, it is, in its basic melodic outline closely related to versions No. 23 L and N. Measure 8 of our version is identical with the same of versions A, C, E, G, I, and O.
Scale: Mode III, plagal. Tonal Center: a-flat. Structure: abcdd1 (2,2,2,2,2).