No. 260: Lord Thomas and Lady Margaret
[There are no known US or Canadian traditional versions of this ballad.]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (There are no footnotes for this ballad)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A-B (Changes for A b text appear in End-notes.)
5. End-notes
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: 260. Lord Thomas and Lady Margaret
A. Roud No. 109: Lord Thomas and Lady Margaret (9 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: Lord Thomas and Lady Margaret (including Bronson's music examples and texts)
3. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A- B)
Child's Narrative: 260. Lord Thomas and Lady Margaret
A. a. 'Lord Thomas,' Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 407.
b. 'Lord Thomas and Lady Margaret,' the same, p. 71.
B. 'Clerk Tamas,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 43.
Christie, who gives B, "epitomized and slightly changed," under the title 'Clerk Tamas and Fair Annie,' Traditional Ballad Airs, II, 12, says that he can trace the ballad, traditionally, far into the last century.
A. Lord Thomas goes a-hunting, and Lady Margaret rides after him; when he sees her following, he orders his servants to hunt her far from him, and they hunt her high and low. She comes upon a tall young man, and begs 'relief' from him for a lady wronged in love and chased from her 'country.' No relief is to be had from him unless she will renounce all other men and be his wife. After a time, Lady Margaret, sewing at her window, observes a vagrant body, who turns out to be Lord Thomas, reduced to beggary; he has been banished from his own country, and asks relief. No relief from her; she would hang him were he within her bower. Not so, says Lord Thomas; rather he would kill her lord with his broadsword and carry her off. Not so, says Lady Margaret, but you must come in and drink with me. She poisons three bottles of wine, and pretends to be his taster. Lord Thomas drinks away merrily, but soon feels the poison. I am wearied with this drinking, he says. And so was I when you set your hounds at me, she replies; but you shall be buried as if you were one of my own.
B has Clerk Tamas for Lord Thomas, and Fair Annie for Lady Margaret. Tamas has loved Annie devotedly, but now hates her and the lands she lives in. Annie goes to ask him to pity her; he sees her coming, as he lies 'over his shot-window,' and orders his men to hunt her to the sea. A captain, lying 'over his ship-window,' sees Annie driven from the town, and offers to take her in if she will forsake friends and lands for him. The story goes on much as in A.
A 8 is borrowed from 'The Douglas Tragedy,' see No 7, C 9. B 143,4 is a commonplace, which, in inferior traditional ballads, is often, as here, an out-of-place. B 15, 16 is another commonplace, of the silly sort: see No 87, B 3, 4, D 4, 5, and Buchan's 'Lady Isabel,' 20, 21.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
Christie, who gives B, "epitomized and slightly changed," under the title 'Clerk Tamas and Fair Annie,' Traditional Ballad Airs, 11, 12, says that he can trace the ballad, traditionally, far into the eighteenth century.
Child's Ballad Texts
'Lord Thomas'- Version A a; Child 260 Lord Thomas and Lady Margaret
a. Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 407; from the recitation of Mrs. Parkhill, Maxweltown, 28 September, 1825 (with variations, furnished by another person of the same neighborhood, interlined).
1 Lord Thomas is to the hunting gone,
To hunt the fallow deer;
Lady Margaret's to the greenwood shaw,
To see her lover hunt there.
2 He has looked over his left shoulder,
To see what might be seen,
And there he saw Lady Margaret,
As she was riding her lane.
3 He called on his servants all,
By one, by two, by three:
'Go hunt, go hunt that wild woman,
Go hunt her far from me!'
4 They hunted her high, they hunted her low,
They hunted her over the plain,
And the red scarlet robes Lady Margaret had on
Would never be mended again.
5 They hunted her high, they hunted her low,
They hunted her over the plain,
Till at last she spy'd a tall young man,
As he was riding alane.
6 'Some relief, some relief, thou tall young man!
Some relief I pray thee grant me!
For I am a lady deep wronged in love,
And chased from my own countrie.'
7 'No relief, no relief, thou lady fair,
No relief will I grant unto thee
Till once thou renounce all the men in the world
My wedded wife for to be.'
8 Then he set her on a milk-white steed,
Himself upon a gray,
And he has drawn his hat over his face,
And chearfully they rode away.
9 Lady Margaret was at her bower-window,
Sewing her silken seam,
And there she spy'd, like a wandering bodie,
Lord Thomas begging alane.
10 'Dome relief, some relief, thou lady fair!
Some relief, I pray thee grant me!
For I am a puir auld doited carle,
And banishd from my ain countrie.'
11 'No relief, no relief, thou perjured man,
No relief will I grant unto thee;
For oh, if I had thee within my bower,
There hanged dead thou would be.'
12 'No such thing, Lady Margaret,' he said,
'Such a thing would never be;
For with my broadsword I would kill thy wedded lord,
And carry thee far off with me.'
13 'Oh no, no! Lord Thomas,' she said,
'Oh, no such things must be;
For I have wine in my cellars,
And you must drink with me.'
14 Lady Margaret then called her servants all,
By one, by two, by three:
'Go fetch me the bottles of blude-red wine,
That Lord Thomas may drink with me.'
15 They brought her the bottles of blude-red wine,
By one, by two, by three,
And with her fingers long and small
She poisond them all three.
16 She took the cup in her lilly-white hand,
Betwixt her finger and her thumb,
She put it to her red rosy lips,
But never a drop went down.
17 Then he took the cup in his manly hand,
Betwixt his finger and his thumb,
He put it to his red rosy lips,
And so merrily it ran down.
18 'Oh, I am wearied drinking with thee, Margaret!
I am wearied drinking with thee!'
'And so was I,' Lady Margaret said,
'When thou hunted thy hounds after me.'
19 'But I will bury thee, Lord Thomas,' she said,
'Just as if thou wert one of my own;
And when that my good lord comes home
I will say thou's my sister's son.'
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'Clerk Tamas'- Version B; Child 260 Lord Thomas and Lady Margaret
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 43.
1 Clerk Tamas lovd her fair Annie
As well as Mary lovd her son;
But now he hates her fair Annie,
And hates the lands that she lives in.
2 'Ohon, alas!' said fair Annie,
'Alas! this day I fear I'll die;
But I will on to sweet Tamas,
And see gin he will pity me.'
3 As Tamas lay ower his shott-window,
Just as the sun was gaen down,
There he beheld her fair Annie,
As she came walking to the town.
4 'O where are a' my well-wight men,
I wat, that I pay meat and fee,
For to lat a' my hounds gang loose
To hunt this vile whore to the sea.'
5 The hounds they knew the lady well,
And nane o them they woud her bite,
Save ane that is ca'd Gaudywhere,
I wat he did the lady smite.
6 'O wae mat worth ye, Gaudywhere!
An ill reward this is to me;
For ae bit that I gae the lave,
I'm very sure I've gien you three.
7 'For me, alas! there's nae remeid,
Here comes the day that I maun die;
I ken ye lovd your master well,
And sae, alas for me! did I.'
8 A captain lay ower his ship-window,
Just as the sun was gaen down;
There he beheld her fair Annie,
As she was hunted frae the town.
9 'Gin ye'll forsake father and mither,
And sae will ye your friends and kin,
Gin ye'll forsake your lands sae broad,
Then come and I will take you in.'
10 'Yes, I'll forsake baith father and mither,
And sae will I my friends and kin;
Yes, I'll forsake my lands sae broad,
And come gin ye will take me in.'
11 Then a' thing gaed frae fause Tamas,
And there was naething byde him wi;
Then he thought lang for Arrandella,
It was fair Annie for to see.
12 'How do ye now, ye sweet Tamas?
And how gaes a' in your countrie?'
'I'll do better to you than ever I've done,
Fair Annie, gin ye'll come an see.'
13 'O Guid Forbid,' said fair Annie,
'That e'er the like fa in my hand!
Woud I forsake my ain gude lord
And follow you, a gae-through-land?
14 'Yet nevertheless now, sweet Tamas,
Ye'll drink a cup o wine wi me,
And nine times in the live lang day
Your fair claithing shall changed be.'
15 Fair Annie pat it till her cheek,
Sae did she till her milk-white chin,
Sae did she till her flattering lips,
But never a drap o wine gaed in.
16 Tamas put it till his cheek,
Sae did he till he dimpled chin;
He pat it till his rosy lips,
And then the well o wine gaed in.
17 'These pains,' said he, 'are ill to bide;
Here is the day that I maun die;
O take this cup frae me, Annie,
For o the same I am weary.'
18 'And sae was I o you, Tamas,
When I was hunted to the sea;
But I'se gar bury you in state,
Which is mair than ye'd done to me.'
End-Notes
A. a. 121. (no such thing) a second time; inserted apparently by Motherwell.
Interlineations:
22. what he might spy.
24. riding by.
83. his broadsword from his side.
84. And slowly.
92. To see what she might spy.
93. spy'd Lord Thomas.
94. A begging along the highway.
103. puir oppressed man.
151. They glowred, but they brought the blude-red wine.
b. 11. is a.
12. the green wood oer.
13. Lady Margaret has followed him.
14. To seek her own true-love.
2. Wanting.
31. He has called up his merrie men all.
33. Hunt away, hunt away this.
34. her away from.
41, 51. and they.
42, 52. Till she ran quite over.
43. The scarlet robes.
44. They can never.
53. And there she spied.
54. Just as.
62. Some relief, some relief grant me.
63. lady that is deep, deep in.
64. And I am banished from.
71. fair ladie.
72. No relief, no relief I'll grant thee.
73. Unless you forsake: in this.
74. And my: you will be.
81. He has mounted her.
82. And himself on a dapple.
83. The buglet horn hung done by there side.
84. And so slowly as they both.
91. One day L. M. at her castle-window.
92. Was sewing.
93. espied L. T,
94. A begging all.
101. fair ladie.
102. Some relief, some relief grant me.
103,4, 11. No relief, no relief, Lord Thomas, she said, But hanged thou shalt be.
121. O no, O no, Lady.
122. For no such things must be.
123. But with: I will.
124. And I'll ride far off with thee.
131. O no, O no.
132. O no: must not.
141. She has called up her.
142, 152. and by.
143. Go bring to me a bottle of wine.
151. her up a bottle of wine.
153. so long.
154. The rank poison in put she.
16, 17. Wanting.
181. I'm wearied, I'm wearied, Lady Margaret, he said.
182. O I'm: talking to.
183. I, Lord Thomas, she.
184. you hounded your dogs.
191. bury you as one of my own.
192. And all in my own ground.
194. say you're.