The Brown Girl- Clement (SC) 1913 Smith E
[From: South Carolina Ballads by Reed Smith; 1928. His notes follow,
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
Campbell and Sharp give eleven texts and eleven tunes, and Cox gives nine texts and mentions two others. Sharp gives one full text and tune, and refers to this as a very common ballad. He notes that the three lines between the twentieth and twenty-first stanzas of his variant are always spoken and never sung. The lines are:
Make me a grave both long and wide,
And lay fair Ellinor by my side
And the brown girl at my feet.
"This is the only instance of the kind," he adds, "that I have come across."
E. "The Brown Girl or Fair Ellender." Communicated by Mrs. Clement, Spartanburg County, Dec. 8, 1913.
1. "Mother, dear mother, come riddle to me
Come riddle all as one;
It's must I marry fair Ellender,
Or bring the Brown girl home?"
2. "The Brown girl she has a house and home,
Fair Ellender has none;
Therefore I'd seek you with my own blessing
The Brown girl you bring home."
3. "Mother, dear mother, come riddle to me
Come riddle all as one;
It's must I go to Low Thomas's wedding,
Or tarry with you at home?"
4. "You know you have a-many a friend,
You know you have a foe;
Therefore I'd seek you with my own blessing
To Low Thomas's wedding don't go."
5. She dressed herself in pearl of gold,
She dressed herself in green;
And every town that she rode through
She was taken to be some queen.
6. "Low Thomas, Low Thomas, is this your bride?
I pray she looks very brown;
You could have gotten as fair a lady
As ever the sun shone on."
7. The Brown girl she had a little penny-knife,
It was both keen and sharp;
Between the long ribs and the short ones
She pressed fair Ellender's heart.
" F air Ellender , fair Ellender,
What makes You look so Pale ?
I thought you bore as high a color
As any other female l "
" Low Thomas, Low Thomas, are you biind,
Or can't you very well seel
For don't you see mv own heart blood
Come stre aming down mY knees ? "
He took the Brown girl bY the hand,
And led her through the hall;
He drew his sword, cut ofr her head,
And kicked it against the wall'
F{e pointed the handle toward the sun,
The point toward his breast.
F{ere is the going of three true loves,
God send our souls to rest'