The Brown Girl- Bosely (WV) 1917 Cox H
[From Folk-Songs of the South- Cox, 1925; His extensive notes follow.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
10. LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET (Child, No. 73)
Eleven variants have been recovered under the following titles: "The Brown Girl," "Fair Ellender and the Brown Girl" "Fair Ellender," "Fair Ellenger," "Lord Thomas," "Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor," and "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender" (cf. Cox, XIV, 120). All of these variants belong to the same version, and nine of them tell a complete story. D and H begin with a description of Lord Thomas. In the other variants 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 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 penknife between the short ribs and the long. Lord Thomas asks 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.
The West Virginia variants are closely related to group D of Child, as is shown by many striking incidents in common, such as the meeting and quick parting of the lovers; Lord Henry loves the little finger of Fair Eleanor better than he does the whole body of the brown girl; Lord Thomas dressed in green and taken for a king; Lord Thomas dressed in black (the rhyme requires the word white) and taken for a knight ; Fair Eleanor taken for a queen; Fair Eleanor seated in the noblest chair, or chair of gold, or given the highest seat; the well in the yard of Fair Ellen's father.
For American texts see Child, in, 509 (Virginia; from Babcock, Folk-Lore Journal, VII, 33) Journal, XVIII 128 Barry: Vermont, Massachusetts by way of New Jersey) XIX 235, Belden; Missouri, Arkansas); xx, 254 (Pettit; Kentucky); XXVII, 71 (Barry; tune only); XXVIII 152 (Perrow; North Carolina); XXIX, 159 (Tolman; Pennsylvania by way of Kansas; texts reported from Virginia and Indiana); McGill, p. 26 (Kentucky); Focus, 111, 204, and IV, 162 (Virginia); Shoemaker, p. 138 (Pennsylvania); Campbell and Sharp, No. 16 (North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Massachusetts); Pound, No. 12 (Maryland by way of Nebraska); Mackenzie, p. 97 (Nova Scotia); Means, Outlook, September 9, 1899, LXIII, 120; Berea Quarterly, April, 1905, IX, No. 3, p. 10; October, 1910, XIV, No. 3, p. 27; October, 1915, XVIII, No. 4, p. 14; Child MSS., XXIII, article 73; Wyman MS., No. 9 (Kentucky); Minish MS. (North Carolina); The Forget-Me-Not Songster (New York, Nails & Cornish), p. 236. See also Belden, No. 4; Shearin and Combs, p. 8; Pound, p. n; F. C. Brown, p. 9; Bulletin, Nos. 2, 3, 5-10; Campbell, The Survey, New York, January 2, 1915, XXXIII, 374; Reed Smith, Journal, XXVII, 62; XXIII, 200.
H. "The Brown Girl." Communicated by Miss Lalah Lovett, Bulltown, Braxton County, May, 191 7; obtained from Caroline Flemming of Napier, West Virginia, who learned it from Lulu Bosely of Bulltown.
1 Lord Thomas, Lord Thomas was a fine young man,
He was lord of three great towns;
He courted Fair Ellen to make her his bride,
And to make a bridegroom for her.
2 "Come, father, come, mother, I'd ask your advice,
I'd ask you both at once:
Whether to marry Fair Ellen, my dear,
Or bring the brown girl home."
3 "The brown girl has both house and land,
Fair Ellen she has none;
As my advice, 't would be a God's blessing,
To bring the brown girl home."
4 He saddled up his milk-white horse,
Rode down to Fair Ellen's home;
And none was so ready as Fair Ellen herself
To arise and bid him walk in.
5 "What news, what news, Lord Thomas," she said,
"What news have you brought to me now?"
"I've come to ask you to my wedding."
"That's very sad news," said she.
6 She dressed herself in scarlet red,
Her seven maids in green;
And every town that they rode through,
They took her to be some queen.
7 They rode till they came to Lord Thomas' gate,
They rang their bells and dingled their rings;
And none was so ready as Lord Thomas himself
To arise and bid her walk in.
8 He took her by the lily-white hand,
And led her in at the hall,
And set her down at the head of the table
Among the ladies all.
9 "Is that your wife, Lord Thomas?" she said,
"Indeed she looks quite brown;
You once could have married as fair a young lady
As ever came into this town."
10 "Don't throw on slurs, Fair Ellen," he said,
"Don't throw on slurs at me;
For I 'd much better love the brown girl's home
Than to love your hope by day."
11 The brown girl having a knife in her bosom,
It being both sharp and keen,
She plunged it through Fair Ellen's ribs
Between the short and the long.
12 "O what is the matter, Fair Ellen?" he said,
"What makes you look so pale?
You once had two as red rosy cheeks
As ever two eyes did see."
13 "O what is the matter, Lord Thomas?" she said,
"O can't you plainly see?
O can't you see my own heart's blood
A-flowing away from me?"
14 He took the brown girl by the hand
And led her out into the hall,
And with the sword cut off her head,
And kicked it against the wall.
15 Then placing the sword against the wall,
The spear next to his heart,
Saying, "Here lies three persons all bound to die
Lord send their souls to rest!
16 "Go dig our grave in the roses red,
Go dig it wide and deep,
And bury Fair Ellen all in my arms,
And the brown girl at my feet."