Lord Thomas & Fair Ellen- Aveline(IN) 1889 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 2014]
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 (c.1889) 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, O 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,[1]
"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 "0 mother, 0 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. [2]
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.")
1. 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."
2. The singer hesitated here and said: "Now I tell you it's been years and years and years."
(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.)