Lord Thomas- Ballard (VT) 1930 Flanders K
[From Flanders' Ancient Ballads, 1966. Notes by Coffin/Flanders follow. This version closely follows the English broadside, Child D.
R. Matteson 2014]
Lord Thomas and Fair Annet
(Child 73)
Child prints nine versions of "Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor" or "The Brown Girl" as the ballad is so frequently called; all but one are Scottish. However, this one, Child D, a seventeenth-century English broadside, seems to be the progenitor of the entire American and modern British stock of the song. Child D variants have been found frequently on both sides of the Atlantic, and this circulation no doubt accounts not only for the fact most informants know or can recognize the ballad, but also for the fact there is little difference in the ballad from one area to another.
Belden, 38, points out some of the major differences between the Scottish tradition and the American versions of the song. The Scottish opening, borrowed from "Fair Margaret and Sweet William" (Child 74), and the remarks exchanged between the women on the brown girl's complexion are both missing in this country, as may be the "rose-briar" cliche, common to Child 74 and Child 75 in "Lord Lovel"). Furthermore, the American hero himself and, not his messenger goes to see Eleanor, and he seeks advice from his mother, never other members of the family. As many texts in this country open with a description of Lord Thomas as a "bold forester," the phrase used in the Nafis and Cornish Forget-Me-Not Songster, there is little doubt this popular volume had much to do with the spread and consistency of the ballad throughout the States.
K. Lord Thomas. Recorded in Jamaica, Vermont, from the singing of Fred, Ballard, who was 72. George Brown, Collector; August 27, 1930; (2,2,2,2); Rhythm A; Conrour: arc; Structure: A B C D; Scale: hexatonic; t, c. G. For mel. rel. see Sharp I, 124(M); SSC, I 15; DV, 568, No. 18(B).
Lord Thomas
Lord Thomas he was a bold forester,
A keeper of king's fat deer.
Fair Eleanor was a handsome maid.
Lord Thomas he loved her dear.
"O, mother, dear mother," Lord Thomas said,
"Come tell us both as one.
Had I better marry Fair Eleanor
Or bring the Brown Girl home?"
"The Brown Girl, she's got house and land,
Fair Eleanor, she has none.
Therefore I advise you with my blessing
Go bring the Brown Girl home."
The Brown Girl had a knife in her hand,
It being both small and sharp,
She stabbed Fair Eleanor in her side
Which touched her tender heart.
Lord Thomas drew his sword and--
Cut off his wedded bride's head
And threw it against the wall.