[Seven Brothersen] Earl Brand- Hester House (North Carolina) 1916
[My title. This is Sharp C from EFSSA published in 1917 Sharp/Campbell and again in 1932. This version has the ending commonly found in Barbara Allen. See also the last stanza in Sharp B.]
[SEVEN BROTHERSEN] EARL BRAND- Mrs. Hester House- Hot Springs, N.C., Sept. 14, 1916
1. He rode up to the old man's gate,
So boldly he did say,
Keep your youngest daughter,
For the oldest I'll take away.
2 He holp[1] her on his milk-white steed,
And he rode the apple grey.
He swung a bugle horn all round about her neck
And so went winding away.
3 He hadn't got more than a mile out of town,
Till he looked back again.
He saw her own dear seven brothersen
Come trippling over the plain.
4. "Set you down, fair Ellinor," he said,
"And hold the steed by the rein,
Till I play awhile with your own dear father
And your seven brothersen."
5. "Fair Ellinor she sat still
And never changed a word,
Till she saw her own dear seven brothersen
All wallowing in their blood.
6. Fair Ellinor she sat still
And never changed a note,
Till she saw her own dear father's head
Come tumbling by her feet.
7. He holp her on her milk-white steed
And he rode the apple grey,
Till he swung a bugle horn all around her neck
And so went winding away.
8. He rode up to his mother's gate
And tingled on the ring,
Saying: "O dear mother, asleep or awake,
Arise and let me in."
9. "Sister, sister, fix my bed,
My wounds are very sore."
Saying: "O dear mother, bind up my head,
For me you'll bind no more."
10. Sweet William he died from the wounds received,
Fair Ellinor died with sorrow;
Sweet William died with the wounds received
And Ellinor died with sorrow.
11. Sweet William was buried at the upper church yard
And Ellinor was buried close by.
Out of William's grave spring a blood red rose
And out of hers a briar.
12. "They grew, they grew to the top of the church
Where could not grow any higher.
They wound, they tied in a true love knot,
The rose wrapped round the briar.
1. helped