The Seven Brothers- Davis (Virginia) 1913; Davis C
[From Traditional Ballads of Virginia Davis, 1929. Davis' notes follow. I've changed the name since Davis said in a footnote it was also sung "Pretty Marget." The "Pretty Polly" may have come from Child 4, accidentally replacing the appropriate name.
Davis' notes follow.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
EARL BRAND (Child, No. 7)
Instead of the title "Earl Brand" or "The Douglas Tragedy," this ballad is known in Virginia as "The Seven Brothers," "The Seven Sleepers," "The Seven King's Sons," or "Lord William." All the Virginia variants seem to follow Sir Walter Scott's version, "The Douglas Tragedy" (Child B), more closely than any other. But they all lack the last three stanzas of Child B, about the plants springing from the graves of the dead lovers and intertwining above as a symbol that love has transcended death. This "rose-and-briar" ending is reserved in Virginia for "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet," "Fair Margaret and sweet William," "Lord Lovel," and "Barbara Allen." The mathematical restraint of the usual Virginia ending,
Eleven lives lost for one,
recalls the concluding stanza of Child A,
This has not been the death o ane,
But it's been that of fair seventeen.
But otherwise the kinship with Child B is much closer, though several of its stanzas are not found in the Virginia variants. The longest Virginia text shows twelve stanzas; Child B has twenty or seventeen without the rose-and-briar ending.
Not as a version, but as appendix to the ballad, is given an interesting modern piece retelling the story of "Earl Brand." It, too, comes from oral tradition in the Virginia mountains. [See 7 Appendix for text]
Sir Walter Scott is authority for attaching the events of this ballad to a definite place. "The ballad of the Douglas Tragedy," he says, "is one of the few to which popular tradition has ascribed complete locality. The farm of Blackhouse, in Selkirkshire, is said to have been the scene of this melancholy event. There are the remains of a very ancient tower, adjacent to the
farm house, in a wild and solitary glen, upon a torrent named Douglas burn, which joins the Yarrow after pausing craggy rock called the Douglas craig. . . . From this ancient tower Lady Margaret is said to have been carried by her lover. Seven large stones, erected upon the neighboring heights of Blackhouse are shown, as marking the spot where the seven brethren were slain and the Douglas burn is averred to have been the stream at which the lovers stopped to drink; so minute is tradition in ascertaining the scene of a tragical tale, which, considering the rude state of former times had probably foundation in some real event." See Child, I, 99.
For American texts) see Brown, p. 9 (North Carolina); Bulletin, Nos. 2, 4-6, Campbell and Sharp, No. 3, (North Carolina, Georgia); Cox, No. 2; Hudson, No. 2 (Mississippi);. Journal XXVIII, 152 (Perrow; North Carolina); Mackenzie, p.6o; Mackenzie, Ballads, No. 2; Shearin, p. 4; Shearin and Combs, p. 7. For additional references, see Cox, p. 18.
THE SEVEN BROTHERS- Sung by Mrs. Herbert Cover, Elkin, Va., Novenber 22, 1913
1. Arise, arise, ye seven brothers,
put on your armor so brave;
For I never intend for a daughter of mine,
To stay with Sweet William[1] a day."
2. He jumped upon his milk-white steed ,
She upon her viper bay[2],
He buckled his sword down by his side,
And away they went singing away.
3 They rode, they rode, at length they rode,
He with his love so dear,
Until he met her seven brothers bold
And her father she loved so dear.
4. "Get down, get down, Pretty Marget,[3]" he said,
And hold my horse for a while,
Until I fight your brothers bold
And your father that's coming so near."
5 She stood, she stood and held the horse
And never shed one tear
Until she saw her seven brothers fall
And her father she loved so dear.
6 "O, hold your hand, Sweet William," she cried,
O hold your hand for awhile;
A many a sweetheart might have had,
But a father never again."
7 He jumped upon his milk-white steed,
She on her viper bay;
He buckled his belt down by his side
And away they went bluding[4] away.
8 They rode, they rode, at length they rode
Till they came to his own mother's stile.
"Get down, get down, Pretty Marget," he cried,
"As we may rest for awhile."
9 "O mother, mother, make my bed,
Make it both soft and wide,
And lay Pretty Marget down by my side
That we may rest for awhile."
10. Sweet William died just about midnight,
Pretty Marget died before day;
His mother died for the loss of her son;
Eleven lives lost for one.
1. Also sung as Lord William.
2. sometimes dapple.
3. Also sung as "Pretty Polly."
4. For bugling or bleeding? [Matteson: bleeding]