Lord Thomas & Fair Ellender- Ritchie KY 1961 Rec.
[Bronson gives date as 1955, p.18. From Folkways Records: Album No. FA 2301 ©1961 Folkways Records & Service Corp., 43 W. 61st St., NYC, USA 10023; Child Ballads in America. Volume 1 sung by Jean Ritchie; learned from Balis Ritchie, her father. Notes by Ken Goldstein.
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVHqaP817OU
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
SIDE I, Band 6: LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ELLENDER (Child #13)
Child thought that the Scottish version of this ballad which Percy included in his Reliques was "one of the most beautiful of our ballads, and indeed of all ballads." Child's evaluation of this ballad appears to have paralleled the tastes of the British and American folk, for it has proved to be one of the most popular of all ballads on both sides of the Atlantic. The ballad tale involves the ever-popular literary cliche of the love triangle - but the tale ends rather gruesome- with the death of all three parties. Frequently the ballad ends with the popular commonplace of the love-animated plants that spring from the graves of the dead lovers, a motif not found in Jean Ritchie's version.
Though the oldest known versions of this ballad were Scottish, American texts appear to stem not from any Scottish source, but from a frequently printed 17th century English broadside text. Jean's version was learned from her father.
For additional texts and information, see: Child, Volume II, p. 119 ff.; Coffin, pp. 14-16; Dean-Smith, p. 85; Greig & Keith, pp. 54-51; Sharp, Volume I, pp. 115-131; Davis, pp. 123-131; Brown Collection, Volume II, pp. 67-79.
Oh mother, oh mother; come riddle it down, [1]
Come riddle two hearts as one,
Say must I marry fair Ellender
Or bring the brown girl home.
The brown girl she has houses and lands,
Fair Ellender she has none,
Oh, the best advice I can give you, my son,
Is go bring me the brown girl home.
He rode till he come to fair Ellender's gate,
He tingled the bell with his cane,
No one so ready as fair Ellender herself
To arise and bid him come in.
Oh what's the news, Lord Thomas, she cried,
What's the news you brung to me,
I've come to ask you to my wedding,
Now what do you think of me?
Oh mother, oh mother, come riddle it down,
Come riddle two hearts as one,
Oh must I go to Lord Thomas's wedding
Or stay at home and mourn.
Oh the brown girl she's got business there,
You know you have got none;
Oh the best advice I can give you, my daughter,
Is to stay at home and mourn.
She dressed herself in a snow-white dress,
Her maids they dressed in green,
And every town that they rode through
They took her to be some queen.
She rode till she come to Lord Thomas's gate,
She pulled all in her rein;
No one so ready as Lord Thomas himself
To arise and bid her come in.
He took her by the lily-white hand,
He led her through the hall,
He seated her down in a rockin'-chair,
Amongst those ladies all.
"Is this your bride, Lord Thomas?" she cried,
"She looks so wonderful brown,
You once could-a married a maiden as fair
As ever the sun shone on."
"Dispraise her not, fair Ellender," he cried,
"Dispraise her not to me,
For I think more of your little finger
Than of her whole body."
The brown girl had a little pen knife,
It being both keen and sharp,
Betwixt the long ribs and the short,
Pierced fair Ellender to the heart.
"Oh what's the matter?" Lord Thomas he cried,
"You look so pale and wan,
You used to have a rosy a color
As ever the sun shone on."
"Oh are you blind, Lord Thomas?" she cried,
"Or is it you cannot see;
And cain't you see my own heart's blood
Come a-trinkling down to my knee."
Lord Thomas he drew his sword from his side,
As he run through the hall;
He cut off the head of his bonny brown bride
And kicked it against the wall.
Then placin' the handle against the wall,
And the blade a-towards his heart,
Said, "Did you ever see three truelovers meet
That had so soon to part?"
"Oh mother, oh mother, go dig my grave, [2]
And dig it both wide and deep,
And bury fair Ellender in my arms,
And the brown girl at my feet."
1. Bronson has "riddle it to me,"
2. Bronson has, "Oh father, of father,"