The Brown Girl- Pierce (SC-NC) pre1927 Sandburg
[From American Songbag- Carl Sandburg 1927; Also appears in South Carolina Ballads, version C. This version was supplied to Sandburg from Smith. Sandburg added the penultimate verse.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
THE BROWN GIRL OR FAIR ELEANOR
Nancy Hanks in her old Kentucky home, sang ballads the western pioneers brought through Cumberland Gap from the uplands and mountains farther east The story of the Brown Girl stabbing Fair Eleanor, then having her head cut off by Lord Thomas, who killed himself and was buried with the two women, sounds almost like a grand opera plot. Grim and terrible though this ballad story is, the tune is even, comforting, a little like riding a slow galloping horse. It is still used in many a southern mountain home for rocking the children to sleep. Little Abe Lincoln, as a child, probably heard The Brown Girl, according to persons familiar with Kentucky backgrounds. This version is from the Reed Smith ballad group published by the University of South Carolina; it was heard by Tressie Pierce in Alexander County, North Carolina. The thirteenth verse is an interpolation from another text, to explain the killing of Lord Thomas by himself before he is buried with the two ladies who so suddenly met violent deaths. Where the singer is so inclined, the last lines of each verse are repeated.
1 "The Brown Girl she has houses and lands,
Fair Eleanor she has none;
The best advice I can give you, my son,
Is to bring the Brown Girl home."
2 He dressed himself in scarlet red,
And rode all over the town;
And everybody that saw him that day,
Thought he was the King.
3 He rode till he came to Fair Eleanor's door,
And tingled at the ring;
And none so ready as Fair Eleanor,
To arise and let him in.
4 "What news, what news, Lord Thomas," she said,
"What news have you for me?"
"I've come to ask'you to my weddin'.
Tomorrow is the day."
5 "Bad news, bad news, Lord Thomas," she said,
" Bad news, bad news, to me;
You've come to ask me to your weddin',
When I thought your bride I was to be."
6 She dressed herself in scarlet red,
And rode all over the town;
And everybody that saw her that day,
Took her to be the Queen.
7 She rode till she came to Lord Thomas' door,
And tingled at the ring;
And none so ready as Lord Thomas himself,
To arise and let her in.
8 "Is this your bride? Lord Thomas," she cried,
"I'm sure, she's wonderful brown;
You might have had as fair a young bride,
As ever the sun shone on."
9 The Brown Girl, she had a long pen-knife,
Twas wonderful long and sharp;
Between the short ribs and the long,
She pierced Fair Eleanor's heart.
10 "Fair Eleanor, what makes you look so pale?
You used to look so red;
You used to have two rosy red cheeks,
And now you've nary one."
11 "Oh, don't you see, or can't you see,
The knife that was pierced in me?
Oh, don't you see my own heart's blood,
A-tricklin' to my knee?"
12 Lord Thomas had a long broad-sword,
It was wonderful long and sharp,
He cut the head of the Brown Girl off,
And kicked it against the wall.
13 He pointed the handle toward the sun,
The point toward his breast.
"Here is the going of three true loves,
God send our souls to rest.
14 "Go dig my grave under yonder green tree,
Go dig it wide and long;
And bury Fair Eleanor in my arms,
And the Brown Girl at my feet."