Lord Thomas & Fair Ellen- Rodes (VA) 1917 Davis J
[From: Traditional Ballads of Virginia; Davis, 1929. His notes follow. Virginia ballad no. 19 is "Fair Margaret and Sweet William" and ballad 20 is "Lord Lovel."
R. Matteson 2014]
18. LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET
(Child, No. 73)
THE three lovely ballads that follow (Nos. 18, 19, and 20) are so closely akin and so frequently blended with one another it will be well to mention their distinguishing marks in advance. All are concerned with the tragedy that follows in the wake of the betrayal or too long deferring of true love. In I8 and 19 the man loves one woman but marries another for her money or following the advice of friends or family. In 18 the the lover comes to the wedding and outshines the bride, who kills her through jealousy and is herself killed by the lover, who then kills himself. In 19 the bridegroom in his marriage bed dreams that his true love appears to him. He dresses and rides to her home, to find her dead of a broken heart. He dies of grief and remorse. Both deaths are natural, as also in 20. But in 20 the triangle disappears; the lover is not unfaithful, only laggard, and he returns to find his lady dead of love too long deferred, then himself dies of grief. All three, then, are lovers' tragedies. In 18 there is a triangle with three violent deaths; in 19, there is a triangle, with the two lovers' deaths, neither violent; in 20 the triangle disappears, and the two lovers die without violence, of love-longing and of sorrow. But this analysis the pure forms may be distinguished from there blended texts.
With these three ballads, also, the familiar "rose-and-brier," ending is most frequently associated. Child speaks of this in his introduction to the Douglas Tragedy. As he says, "The beautiful fancy of plants springing from the graves of star-crossed lovers, and signifying by the intertwining of stems or leaves, or, in other analogous ways, that an earthly passion has not been extinguished by death, presents itself as is well known, very frequently in popular poetry. Though the graves be made far apart, even on opposite sides of the church, or one to the north and one south, outside the church, or one without kirk wall and one in the choir, however separated. the vines or trees seek one another out, and mingle their branches or their foliage:
"Even from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,
Even in our ashes live their wonted fires!"
In the Virginia texts, this fanciful idea is seldom found in 18 (see B). but regularly in 19 and 20. And the appendage appears again a little later in the Virginia texts of " Barbara Allen "'(No. 24, which as another love tragedy is also akin to this group.
No. 18 is known in Virginia as "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor," "Lord Thomas," "The Brown Girl," "Lord Thomas and the Brown Girl," "The Three Lovers," "Fair Ellen," "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellen," and by other like titles. The simple name Eleanor goes through many changes of spelling and pronunciation, from Ellinor to Ellender. The thirty-seven texts and seven tunes of this ballad collected in Virginia indicate its great, and deserved popularity. Most of the texts are complete or nearly so, and in an excellent state of preservation. But they all seem to be more closely related to the Child D group than to any other version. They follow the English rather than the Scottish form of the ballad.
Several of the Virginia variants begin with a description of Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor. But in most of the variants, as Cox says of the West Virginia texts, " the story begins by the hero's asking his mother to solve the riddle as to whether he shall marry Fair Eleanor or bring the brown girl home. Since the brown girl has house and lot (land) and Fair Eleanor has none, she advises him to marry the brown girl. Thereupon he dresses himself up in state, takes his merry men with him, rides to Fair Eleanor's hall, and invites her to his wedding on the morrow. She says that it is very bad news to her for she expected to be his bride. Later she asks her mother to solve the riddle as to whether she shall go to Lord Thomas's wedding or stay at home. Her mother advises her to stay at home since she will have few friends at the wedding and many enemies, but she is determined to go. Thereupon she arrays herself in her finery, takes her merry maids with her, and rides to Lord Thomas's hall. In answer to her knocking, Lord Thomas himself lets her in, leads her into the hall, and chooses for her the highest seat. Fair Eleanor twits him with having married such a brown wife, whereupon the brown girl stabs her with a pen-knife between the short ribs and the long. Lord Thomas asks her why she looks so pale and she suggests that he must be blind not to observe her heart's blood trickling down to her knee. With a little hand-sword Lord Thomas cuts off the head of the brown girl, kicks it against the wall, and then slays himself with the same sword. Before he dies, he requests that Fair Eleanor be buried in his arms and the brown girl at his feet." This summary by Cox may stand for the typical Virginia text as well.
American texts of this ballad are very numerous, showing its great popularity in the New World. See Barry,No. 2; Belden, No. 1 (fragment); Brown, p. 9 (North Carolina); Bulletin, Nos. 2,-3, 5-10; Campbell and Sharp, No. 16 (North Carolina, Georgia,-Tennessee, Massachusetts, Virginia); Child, III, 509 (Virginia from The Folk Lore Journal, vol,33, 1889); Cox, No. 10; Hudson, No 10 (and Journal, XXXIX, 94; Mississippi); Journal, XVIII, 128 (Barry, Vermont, text and melody: Massachusetts, fragment), 295 (Barry, Vermont, melody only); XIX, 235, (Belden, Missouri, Arkansas); XX, 254 (Kittredge, Kentucky); XXVIII, 71 (Barry, melody only; XXVIII, 152 (Perrow, North Carolina); XXIX, 159 (Tolman, Pennsylvania, fragment); McGill, p.28; Mackenzie, p. 97 Mackenzie, Ballads, No. 6 and p. 392 (text and melody); Pound, Syllabus, p. 11 (fragment); Pound, Ballads, No. 12; Sandburg, p. 157 (North Carolina); Shearin, p.3; Shearin and Combs, p. 9; Shoemaker, p. 155; Reed Smith, No. 5 (texts and melodies); Reed Smith, Ballads, No. 5; Wyman and Brockway, Songs, p. 14 (Kentucky). For additional references, see Cox, p. 45; Journal, XXIX, 159.
J. "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellen." Contributed by Misses Ethel and Hallie Rodes. Found in Bryant, Va. Nelson County, March 26, 1917.
1. "The brown girl she has house and land,
Fair Ellen she has none;
I therefore charge you with all my blessing,
Go bring the brown girl home."
2 He rode to fair Ellen's hall,
He rattled, the bell did ring;
No one was so ready as fair Ellen herself
To arise and let him in.
3 "What news, Lord Thomas," she says to me,
"What news, what news, have you brought?"
"I come to invite you to my wedding,
Oh, isn't that bad for thee."
4 "Mother, spend your opinion
And tell your stories true;
Must I to Lord Thomas's wedding go
Or stay at home with you?"
5 "You have a great many friends,
Likewise as many foes;
I therefore charge you with all my blessing
Lord Thomas's wedding not go."
6 "I have a great many friends,
Likewise as many foes;
Betide my life, betide my death,
Lord Thomas's wedding I'll go."
7 She dressed herself in robes of white,
Her maids all dressed in green;
And every town she passed through,
They thought she was some queen.
8 She rode to Lord Thomas's hall,
She rattled, the bell did ring;
No one was so ready as Lord Thomas himself
To arise and let her in.
9 He took her by her lily-white hand
And led her through the hall,
Where there were four and twenty gay ladies,
And she the flower of all.
10 " Is this your bride, Lord Thomas," says she,
"That looks so wonderfully brown?
You might have married as fair a young lady
As ever the sun shone on."
11 "Despise her not," Lord Thomas he says,
"Despise her not to me;
For I do love your little finger
Better than her whole body."
12 The brown girl had a little pen-knife,
Both very keen and sharp;
Between the lungs and her short ribs
She Pierced fair Ellen's heart.
13 "What makes you faint?" Lord Thomas he says,
"What makes you faint so soon?
You once did wear as rich a color
As ever a rose in June."
14 "Oh, are you blind, Lord Thomas,
"Or can't you plainly see?
The beautiful color that was once
Goes twinkling down my knee.
15 He had his sword all by his side;
He walked across the hall,
And cut off his own bride's head-
And threw it against the wall.
16 He placed his sword all on the floor,
And point all towards his heart.
Was ever the like ever known,
Three lovers so soon to part?
17 "Oh, mother, dig my grave:
Dig it both wide and deep,
And place fair Ellen by my side,
The brown girl at my feet."