Lord Thomas & Fair Ellender- Doss VA 1921 Davis I
[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."
An unusual final stanza blames the mother for the deaths.
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.
I. "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender." Collected by Mr. John Stone. Sung by Mr. Jeff Doss, of Damascas Va., who learned it from his brother. Washington County. November 9, 1921.
1. "O mother, dear mother, come riddle my riddle,
And riddle my riddle as one,
Whether I shall marry Fair Ellender
Or the Brown Girl bring home."
2 "The Brown Girl she has house and land,
Fair Ellender she has none,
I charge you now by my experience
The bonny Brown Girl bring home."
3 He rode till he came to Fair Ellender's hall,
He knocked till he tingled the ring;
There was none so ready as Fair Ellender herself
To rise and let him in.
4 "O what's the news? O what's the news?
O what's the news? " cried she.
"I come to axe you to my wedding,
Sad news, sad news," says he.
5 "O mother, O mother, come riddle my riddle,
Come riddle my riddle in one,
Whether I must go to Lord Thomas's wedding
Or wither and tarry at home."
6 "One might be your friend, dear girl,
Five hundred might be your foe,
I charge you now by my experience
You'd better tarry at home."
7 She dressed herself in solid green,
The prettiest I ever seen,
And every city that she passed through,
They took her to be a queen.
8 She rode till she came to Lord Thomas's hall,
She knocked till she tingled the ring;
There was none so ready as Lord Thomas hisself
To rise and let her in.
9. He took her by the lily-white hand,
He led her-into the hall;
He sat her down at the head of the table
Amongst the gentlemens all.
10 "Is this your bride, Lord Thomas?" she cried,
She looks most wonderful brown.
You might have had as fair a one
As ever the sun shined on."
11 The bonny Brown Girl had a knife in her hand,
The point grew thin and sharp;
Between the long ribs and the short,
She entered Fair Ellender's heart.
12 "O what's the matter? O what's the matter?
O what's the matter?" cries he,
"It's don't you see my own heart's blood
Come twinkling down from me."
13 He took the bonny Brown Girl by the hand,
He led her into the hall,
And with his sword he chopped off her head
And slammed it against the wall.
14 He put the butt against the wall,
The point against his breast;
"Here ends the life of three lovers, dear lovers,
Lord, take our souls to rest."
I5 "O mother, dear mother, you are the cause of this,
You are the cause of ail these deaths,
Bury Fair Ellender in my arms,
The bonny Brown Girl at my feet."