Lord Thomas And Fair Ellen- Aveline (IN) 1877; collected in 1942 Halpert
[From: A Group of Indiana Folksongs by Herbert Halpert; Hoosier Folklore Bulletin, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Mar., 1944), pp. 1-15. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
Volume II - HOOSIER FOLKLORE BULLETIN - Number 2; March, 1944
A GROUP OF INDIANA FOLKSONGS
Most of this small group of folksong texts were contributed to the editor between 1940-42 by people who had heard him give lectures at various places in Indiana, Although no one feels more strongly than he does that a text without the music is much less than half the song, this is a case of half a loaf being better than none. These texts may serve to interest other Hoosiers in securing similar songs, or in recalling them from their own memories, and thus lead to recording the music with the words.
A very considerable body of folksong texts has already been collected and published by Mr. Paul G. Brewster. His book, Ballads and Songs of Indiana (Indiana University Folklore Series, No. 1, Bloomington, Indiana University, copyright 1940) is a must for all Indiana residents interested in the cultural background of their state. Mr. Brewster has supplemented this collection by three articles in the Southern Folklore Quarterly: "Folksongs from Indiana," III (1939), 201-52 "More Songs from Indiana," IV (1940), 175-203 "More Indiana Ballads and Songs," V (1941), 169-90. In the field of the play-party, the book by Leah Jackson Wolford, The Play Party in Indiana (Indianapolis: The Indiana Historical Commission, 1916), is a classic "study well-packed with music.
Although Mr. Brewster's collections have a few melodies, the best body of Indiana folkmusic is found on a set of phonograph discs recorded in 1938 by Mr. Alan Lomax for the Archive of American Folk-Song, in the Music Division of the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. A duplicate set of these records is in the Indiana University Folklore Library. About half a dozen additional songs were recorded for the University by the writer. Miss Margaret Sweeney of Jeffersonville has also made a few records which are in her possession.
There is still a large field for further collecting in Indiana, and all Hoosiers are urged to aid both by contributing texts of songs they know and by locating other singers for possible recording. When songs are submitted, the contributor is requested to include full data on the name, age, and occupation of the singer, date and place of taking the song down, information on vrhere the singer learned it, and any comments he makes on the song or on singing in the old days. The songs here are chiefly British in origin, part of the stock that has become thoroughly accepted in the American tradition. I have made no attempt to give an extended list of variants. The collections of Beiden, Brewster, Cox, and Sharp-Karpeles to which I refer, contain exhaustive parallels.
9. Lord Thomas And Fair Ellen
(Child 73)
Text contributed by Mrs. Lena L. Aveline, of Marion, Indiana, in the summer of 1942, some weeks after she had sung and dictated to the editor a less complete text. She "learned it 65 years ago in Grant County, I don't know how it came into our family." When dictating it she remarked: "I'll be 76 my next birthday and I do everything anybody else does," At that time I asked, when she had learned the song and she said: "When I was young, Maggie!' Years and years and years ago. It's been 30 years since I ever thought of it, I have included here some of Mrs. Aveline's comments made when first dictating the song to me."
1 "Mother, 0 mother, will you discourse,
Will you discourse as one?
Or would you marry Fair Ellen,
Or bring The Brown Girl home?"
(Mrs. Aveline's daughter asked: "Well, just whatever has that to do with it?" She replied tartly: "0 it doesn't have to mean anything!")
2 "The Brown Girl she has house and land,
Fair Ellen she has none;
Therefore I will charge you with my dear blessing,
Go bring The Brown Girl home."
3 "I will go, I will go," says one,
"I will-go, I will go," says he,
"And invite Fair Ellen to my wedding,
Tomorrow at eight o'clock it will be."
4 He rode and he rode till he came to the hall,
So loudly he knocked on the ring;
("Just a knocker or doorbell, I s'pose.")
And none so ready as Fair Ellen herself,
To rise and let him come in.
5 "Good news, good news," Fair Ellen said,
"Good news, Lord Thomas, you bring."
"Bad news, bad news," Lord Thomas said,
"Bad news, Fair Ellen, I bring."
6 "I have come, I have come," said one,
(At this point in dictating the text Mrs. Aveline could not remember the exact wording and said: "I don't know which it is and it doesn't matter.")
"I have come, I have come," said he;
"I have come to invite you to my wedding,
Tomorrow at eight o'clock it will be."
7 "Your wedding, your wedding," Fair Ellen cried,
"I think it came wonderfully soon,
I expected to have been myself the bride,
And you to have been the groom."
8 "O mother, O mother, will you discourse,
Will you discourse as one?
Or would you go to Lord Thomas's wedding,
Or would you tarry at home?"
9 She dressed herself in scarlet red,
Her waiting maid in green.
And every city that they passed through,
They took her to be some queen.
(The singer hesitated here and said: "Now I tell you it's been years and years and years.")
10 She rode and she rode till she came to the hall,
So loudly she knocked on the ring,
And none so ready as Lord Thomas himself,
To rise and let her come in.
11 He took Fair Ellen by the hand,
And led her through the hall,
And seated her down at the head of the table
Among the ladies all.
12 "Is this your bride?" Fair Ellen cried,
"I think she looks wonderfully brown.
You might have married as fair a lady
As ever the sun shone on."
("Then The Brown Girl got in her stuff!")
13 The Brown Girl having a' knife in her hand,
It being both keen and sharp,
She pierced it through Fair Ellen,
She pierced it through her heart.
14 "What is the matter?" Lord Thomas cried,
"I think you look wonderfully pale.
You used to have such rosy cheeks
I thought they would never fail."
15 "Are you turning blind?" Fair Ellen cried,
"Or can you not very well see?
And don't you see my own heart's blood
A-flowing down by me?"
("Tragic]")
16 He took The Brown Girl by the hand,
And led her through the hall,
He took his sword, cut off her head,
("Wasn't he awful?")
And kicked it against the wall,
("That's worse yet")
17 "Go dig my grave," Lord Thomas cried,
"Go dig it both long and deep.
And bury Fair Ellen in my arms,
And The Brown Girl at my feet."
18 With the handle of the sword against the wall,
The point against his breast*
(He cried:) "Here is the end of three true lovers;
Pray God send them to rest."
*("They just put that in for good measure 'cause they don't say he says it.")
(For references to this old ballad see Brewster, pp, 58-70. "Child 73" refers to the number under which the ballad is discussed in the great scholarly collection of Prof. Francis James Child. Mrs. Aveline and her daughter contributed stories to the Bulletin, I, 27-28.)