Twa Sisters- Brockie (Berw) 1813 Wilkie MS Child CC
[My title, designated Child CC by Barry 1935 BFSSNE, vol. 9, p.5. Appears in Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads (Additions and Corrections), no letter designation, as taken from Manuscript of Thomas Wilkie, p. 1, in "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 82.
R. Matteson 2014, 2018]
TWA SISTERS Manuscript of Thomas Wilkie, p. 1, in "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 82; taken down "from a Miss Nancy Brockie, Bemerside (Berwickshire, Scotland)" 1813.
1 There were twa sisters sat in a bower,
By Nera and by Nora
The youngest was the fairest flower.
Of all the mill-dams of Bennora
2 It happened upon a bonnie summer's day
By Nera and by Nora
The eldest to the youngest did say:
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
3 'We must go and we shall go
By Nera and by Nora
To see our brother's ships come to land.'
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
4 'I winna go and I downa go,
By Nera and by Nora
For weeting the corks o my coal-black shoes.'
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
5 She set her foot into a rash-bush,
By Nera and by Nora
To see how tightly she was dressd.
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
6 But the youngest sat upon a stone,
By Nera and by Nora
But the eldest threw the youngest in.
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
7 'O sister, oh sister, come lend me your hand,
By Nera and by Nora
And draw my life into dry land!'
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
8 'You shall not have one bit o my hand;
By Nera and by Nora
Nor will I draw you to dry land.'
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
9 'O sister, O sister, come lend me your hand,
By Nera and by Nora
And you shall have Sir John and all his land.'
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
10 'You shall not have one bit o my hand,
By Nera and by Nora
And I'll have Sir John and all his land.
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
11 The miller's daughter, clad in red,
By Nera and by Nora
Came for some water to bake her bread.
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
12 'O father, O father, go fish your mill-dams,
By Nera and by Nora
For there either a swan or a drownd woman.'
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
13 You wad not have seen one bit o her waist,
By Nera and by Nora
The body was' swelld, and the stays strait laced.
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
14 You wad not have seen one bit o her neck,
By Nera and by Nora
The chains of gold they hang so thick.
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
15 He has taen a tait of her bonnie yellow hair,
By Nera and by Nora
He's tied it to his fiddle-strings there.
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
16 The verry first spring that that fiddle playd
By Nera and by Nora
Was, Blest be [the] queen, my mother! [it] has said.
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
17 The verry next spring that that fiddle playd
By Nera and by Nora
Was, Blest be Sir John, my own true-love!
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
18 The very next spring that that fiddle playd
By Nera and by Nora
Was, Burn my sister for her sins!
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
_____________
Footnotes:
4[2]. Written at first my black heeld shoes.
12[2]. swain.
17[2]. thy own.