Lord Thomas- Wilson (NC) c1864 Smith (Flannery?) Brown D
[From MS in the Abrams collection; partially given in The Brown Collection of NC Folklore; Vol. 2 1952. Complete text from MS is at bottom of this page. I've corrected minor spelling and stanza line errors.
Around 1914 Thomas Smith of Zionville, NC began collecting and submitting ballads and songs to the Brown Collection. Later in the early 1930s after moving to Palmyra, Virginia, Thomas and his brother R. E. Lee Smith submitted ballads to Kyle Davis Jr. that were ballad recreations- one of which I've proven to be a forgery based on Child A. I have not examined the ballads in the Brown Collection - however - all his contributions must be suspect. Notice (in the music at bottom from Brown IV) that this text and tune were reported to have been contributed by Sam Flannery- which is suspicious, since I'm sure Smith never submitted music (at least he didn't to Davis).
Update: After checking and finding an additional document- this ballad is from Sam Flannery (who I believe is Joseph Samuel Flannery b.1870) of Silverstone, NC who is Mr. Andrew Wilson's son-in-law since Sam married Mary Alice Wilson(b. 1874) in 1899. The ballad was also sung by Andrew Wilson and two stanzas are given by Smith:
Lord Thomas rode until he came to Fair Ellinder's gate,
He tangle at the ring,
There was none so ready as Fair Ellinder herself,
To rise and let him in.
Fair Ellinder rode until he came to Lord Thomas' hall,
She tangle at the ring,
There was none so ready as Lord Thomas himself,
To rise and let her in.
Smith says," The other verses in Mr. Flannery's ballad are like the ones given by Mr. Wilson and his daughter." You can see by what's written by Brown Collection editor's that the ballad is from the Wilsons but apparently it's from Sam Flannery who sang a similar version.
R. Matteson 2014]
D. 'Lord Thomas.' Collected by Thomas Smith of Zionville, Watauga County, in or before 1914. In that year he was in lively correspondence with C. Alphonso Smith (who was himself a North Carolinian) on the subject of ballads and sent him this text among others. Later C. A. Smith released all his North Carolina gatherings to the North Carolina Folklore Society. Thomas Smith wrote in 1914 that this ballad is "written as sung by Miss Ida Wilson, whose father sang it nearly sixty years ago." Sixteen stanzas. Only Lord Thomas seeks maternal advice. In stanza 10 appears a faint memory of the sharp dialogue between Aniiet and the brown girl in Child's versions AEG (and in most of the other versions less strikingly):
'Where did you get your well water
That washed your skin so white?'
But Ellender makes no reply, at least not to the brown girl. The customary stanza directing the burial at the close.
D. Lord Thomas- Sung by Ida Wilson; collected by Thomas Smith, 1914.
Lord Thomas came to his mother's room,
I have to ask your advice, he said,
"Between Fair Ellender and the Brown girl,
Which of them should I wed."
The Brown girl has house and lands,
Fair Ellender she has none.
The best advice I can give to you,
Go bring the Brown girl home."
Lord Thomas rode until he came to Fair Ellender's hall,
The bell he did ring,
There was none so ready as Fair Ellender herself,
To rise and let him come in.
"Lord Thomas," Fair Ellender said,
"What news do you bring to me?"
'I've come to ask you to my wedding,
tomorrow is the day."
Fair Ellender called up her merry men,
By one, by two, by three,
"If heavenly powers don't hinder me,
Lord Thomas' wedding I'll see."
Fair Ellender called up her merry men,
She formed them in a row,
"Go saddle and bridal my milk-white steed,
To Lord Thomas' wedding I'll go."
She dressed herself in rich array,
Her garments all of green,
And every town that she rode through,
They took her to be some queen.
Fair Ellender rode until she came to Lord Thomas' hall,
The bell she did ring,
There was non so ready as Lord Thomas himself,
To let Fair Ellender in.
He took her by the lily-white hand,
He led her into the hall,
He sat her at the head of the table,
Among the quality all.
The Brown girl she came stepping up
Her heart was filled with spite,
'Where did you get your well water
That washed your skin so white?'
"Is this your bride?" Fair Ellender said,
I think she is wonderfully brown,
When you could have married as fair a lady,
As ever the sun shone on."
The Brown girl had a little pen knife
Which she whetted both keen and sharp,
And between the long ribs and the short,
She pierced Fair Ellender's heart.
Are you blind, Lord Thomas?" Fair Ellender aid,
Or can't you very well see?
Don't you see my own heart's blood,
A-trickling down to my knee?"
Lord Thomas took the Brown girl by the hand,
And led her through the hall,
He drew his broad edged sword and cut off her head,
Then kicked it against the wall.
He place the sword against the wall,
With the point against his breast,
Saying "Three true lovers all die this day,
God send them all to rest."
"Go dig my grave under yonder green tree,
Go dig it wide and deep,
And bury Fair Ellender in my arms,
And the Brown girl at my feet."
D. 'Lord Thomas.' Sung by Miss Ida Wilson. Secured by Thomas Smith of Zionville, Watauga county, in or before 1914. A note on the ms score, however, mentions Sam Flannery as having also contributed the text and tune.
Scale: Hexatonic (4), plagal. Tonal Center: d. Structure aba1b1 (5,3,4.4)- This shows a rather unusual structure, which nevertheless comes about in quite a normal way. Both the cadences of the first and second phrases were shortened to the extent of one measure. Another possibility would be to assume that the first phrase was internally incremented. But this would still demand another measure at the end of the second phrase. This second manner of analysis has one factor to recommend it ; e.g., the first phrase would thereby take on the form of the third and the smooth progression into the second phrase would be very much like that from the third to the fourth.