Saver a Rose- Horton (VA) pre1931 Davis BB
[From More Traditional Ballads of Virginia- Davis 1960. Davis made it his mission to find versions of Child 2 since in his first book TBVa- 1929, none were collected. This title is taken from the second version sent in 1931 and it appears to once have been "Savory rose." An excerpt of Davis' notes follow:
R. Matteson 2014]
Coffin notes that "in this country, the elf, an interloper in Britain, has been universally rationalized, to a mortal lover. Frequently, nothing remains but the riddle, sometimes even the love affair being absent." This seems to be the case also with texts recently collected from oral tradition in Britain. The ballad in its modified form has been found in Ireland, Aberdeenshire, Northumberland, Yorkshire, Wilkshire, Sussex, and Somerset, and in this country from Maine to Florida, Texas to California. With its wide popularity, it is curious that the ballad has not been more often found in Virginia. No texts of this ballad appear in TBVa. At present, three versions from three singers have been recovered. All are fragmentary, but all preserve to some extent the love element of the tasks. The refrain lines indicate the usual deviation, from such lines as "Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" of Child G. Wimberly suggests, "The plant refrain in The Elfin, Knight (2G), is a very probable survival of an incantation used against the demon suitor." See Wimberly, pp. 345-62, for a "general discussion of name magic, verbal charms, and herbal magic."
The meager recording of this ballad in Virginia- no record in TBVa, and only the three incomplete texts here without tunes are all the more remarkable in view of the twenty texts printed by child and the no less than fifty-five tunes (and texts) printed by Bronson (I, 9-33) .
Bronson divides his musical records into three main groups: Group A, with six variants surviving from Scotland, New England, and Texas; Group B, the sturdiest branch with forty representatives, all having the "True Lover of Mine" refrain; and Group C, with only five variants, wholly English and with the "Acre of Land" and "Ivy" refrain. Since Bronson's classifications are based primarily on musical considerations, it is impossible to relate the three tuneless fragments here to his groups. On the basis of the refrains, however, they would seem to lie closest to his large middle group B. But what Bronson says of his third group, C, is certainly true of all three of the fragments given here: "So far as concerns the words," he says, "this group has pretty completely descended to the nursery: the riddles have lost their dramatic function, and the story is a straight-forward recounting of impossibles, with no challenging from opponents. Here there is little to bolster a theory of evolution from simple to complex." Only CC has the lady reply to the gentleman with a series of tasks actually impossible. The three fragments given below are at least proof that the ballad, apparently more vigorous elsewhere in Britain and in America, especially in New England, is by no means extinct in Virginia.
BB. ["Saver A Rose"] No local title. collected by Miss Alfreda M. Peel, of Salem, Va. Sung by Mrs. William Horton, of Roanoke Va. Roanoke County. Miss Peel sent in two texts of this ballad taken from Mrs. Horton's singing with the second text which was sent March 31, 1931, Mrs. Peel wrote: "I think this ballad has been sent in by me from the same source years ago. But the old lady's sister came with her, and there may be changes, as she helped her sing it." Miss Peel's comment is indeed an understatement. The two versions are quite different, and their fragmentary, irregular quality makes it extremely difficult to establish an authoritative single text. The earlier version, though more fragmentary, is more regular. It has therefore been thought best to give her earlier version in full. The editor offers a reconstruction based upon the earlier text with its refrain,
and utilizing all the lines in both versions. "Saving" in the refrain line of this ballad probably is a variation of the herb "savoury" mentioned in herbal refrains.
Earlier Version
1 "Tell her to sew it up with a white thorn,
Saving a rose that grows merry in time,
And not let the needle touch the shirt,
Thus she shall be a true lover of me.
2 ". . . .
. . . .
Nor let a drop of water fall on,
Then she shall be a true lover of mine.
"Tell her to sew it up with a goose quill,
Saving a rose that grows merry in time,
Then she shall be a true lover of mine."
Later Version
1 There was an old woman lived over the sea
Refrain: Saver a rose that grows merry in time,
And you shall be a true lover of mine.
2 "Tell her to buy a yard of white cloth,
Saver a rose, etc.
Tell her to sew it with a white thorn,
And not let the needle touch the shirt,
Then she shall be a true lover of mine.
3 "Tell her to buy a half acre of land
That lieth low by the salt sea sand,
Tell her to plow it with a goose quill,
Tell her to get a grain of corn,
And thrash it out with a goose quill."
Reconstruction
1 There was all old woman lived over the sea,
Saving a rose that grows merry in time,
"Tell her to buy a yard of white cloth,
Then she shall be a true lover of mine.
2 "Tell her to sew it up with a white thorn, [1]
Saving a rose that grows merry in time,
And not let the needle touch the shirt,
Then she shall be a true lover of mine.
3 "Tell her to buy a half acre of land,
Saving a rose that grows merry in time,
That lieth low by the salt sea sand,
Then she shall be a true lover of mine.
4 "Tell her to plow it with a goose quill
Saving a rose that grows merry in time,
And thrash it out with a goose quill,
Then she shall be a true lover of mine.
5 "Tell her to get a grain of corn,
Saving a rose that grows merry in time,
Nor let a drop of water fall on,
Then she shall be a true lover of mine."
1. Cf. "Tell her to sew it up with a goose quill" of the earlier version.