Fair Elander & the Brown Girl- McCourt (WV) 1916 Cox C
[From Folk-Songs of the South- Cox, 1925; His extensive notes follow.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
10. LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET (Child, No. 73)
Eleven variants have been recovered under the following titles: "The Brown Girl," "Fair Ellender and the Brown Girl," "Fair Ellender," "Fair Ellenger," "Lord Thomas," "Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor," and "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender" (cf. Cox, XIV, 120). All of these variants belong to the same version, and nine of them tell a complete story. D and H begin with a description of Lord Thomas. In the other variants the story begins by the hero's asking his mother to solve the riddle as to whether he shall marry Fair Eleanor or bring the brown girl home. Since the brown girl has house and lot (land) and Fair Eleanor has none, she advises him to marry the brown girl. Thereupon he dresses himself up in state, takes his merry men with him, rides to Fair Eleanor's hall, and invites her to his wedding on the morrow. She says that is very bad news to her for she expected to be his bride. Later she asks her mother to solve the riddle as to whether she shall go to Lord Thomas's wedding or stay at home. Her mother advises her to stay at home since she will have few friends at the wedding and many enemies, but she is determined to go. Thereupon she arrays herself in her finery, takes her merry maids with her, and rides to Lord Thomas's hall. In answer to her knocking, Lord Thomas himself lets her in, leads her into the hall, and chooses for her the highest seat. Fair Eleanor twits him with having married such a brown wife, whereupon the brown girl stabs her with a penknife between the short ribs and the long. Lord Thomas asks why she looks so pale and she suggests that he must be blind not to observe her heart's blood trickling down to her knee. With a little hand-sword Lord Thomas cuts off the head of the brown girl, kicks it against the wall, and then slays himself with the same sword. Before he dies, he requests that Fair Eleanor be buried in his arms and the brown girl at his feet.
The West Virginia variants are closely related to group D of Child, as is shown by many striking incidents in common, such as the meeting and quick parting of the lovers; Lord Henry loves the little finger of Fair Eleanor better than he does the whole body of the brown girl; Lord Thomas dressed in green and taken for a king; Lord Thomas dressed in black (the rhyme requires the word white) and taken for a knight ; Fair Eleanor taken for a queen; Fair Eleanor seated in the noblest chair, or chair of gold, or given the highest seat; the well in the yard of Fair Ellen's father.
For American texts see Child, in, 509 (Virginia; from Babcock, Folk-Lore Journal, VII, 33) Journal, XVIII 128 Barry: Vermont, Massachusetts by way of New Jersey) XIX 235, Belden; Missouri, Arkansas); xx, 254 (Pettit; Kentucky); xxvii, 71 (Barry; tune only); XXVIII 152 (Perrow; North Carolina); xxix, 159 (Tolman; Pennsylvania by way of Kansas; texts reported from Virginia and Indiana); McGill, p. 26 (Kentucky); Focus, 111, 204, and IV, 162 (Virginia); Shoemaker, p. 138 (Pennsylvania); Campbell and Sharp, No. 16 (North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Massachusetts); Pound, No. 12 (Maryland by way of Nebraska); Mackenzie, p. 97 (Nova Scotia); Means, Outlook, September 9, 1899, LXIII, 120; Berea Quarterly, April, 1905, IX, No. 3, p. 10; October, 1910, XIV, No. 3, p. 27; October, 1915, XVIII, No. 4, p. 14; Child MSS., XXIII, article 73; Wyman MS., No. 9 (Kentucky); Minish MS. (North Carolina); The Forget-Me-Not Songster (New York, Nails & Cornish), p. 236. See also Belden, No. 4; Shearin and Combs, p. 8; Pound, p. n; F. C. Brown, p. 9; Bulletin, Nos. 2, 3, 5-10; Campbell, The Survey, New York, January 2, 1915, XXXIII, 374; Reed Smith, Journal, XXVII, 62; XXIII, 200.
C. "Fair Elendar and the Brown Girl." Contributed by Miss Snoah McCourt, Orndoff, Webster County, May 16, 1916; learned from her mother.
1 "Come riddle, come riddle us both, dear mother,
Come riddle us both as one:
Shall I marry Fair Elendar,
Or bringeth the brown girl home?"
2 "The brown girl she has house and land,
Fair Elendar she has none;
I charge you once with my blessing,
Go bringeth the brown girl home."
3 He rode up to Fair Elendar's bower,
So clearly he knocked at the ring;
There's none so ready as Fair Elendar
To rise and let him in.
4 "What news, what news, Lord Thomas? " she said,
"What news have you brought unto me?"
"I've come to invite you to my wedding,
So sorrowful news unto me."
5. . . . . .
"So sorrowful news unto me,
For I was in hopes to have been the bride,
And you the bridegroom to be."
6 "Come riddle, come riddle us both, dear mother,
Come riddle us both as one:
Shall I attend Lord Thomas's wedding,
Or tarry with thee at home? "
7 "O some may be your friends, dear daughter,
Whilst thousands may be your foes;
I charge you once with my blessing
To tarry with me at home."
8 "O some may be our friends, dear mother,
Whilst others may be our foes;
If it be the cause of my death,
To Lord Thomas's wedding I'll go."
9 She dressed herself in silks so fine,
All trimmed off in green;
And every bower that she passed through,
They took her to be a queen.
10 She rode up to Lord Thomas's bower,
So clearly she knocked at the ring;
There was none so ready as Lord Thomas himself
To arise and let her in.
11 He took her little white hand
And led her through the hall;
He led her through the brown girl's chamber
And sat her above them all.
12 "Is this your wife, Lord Thomas?" she said,
"I'm sure she's very brown;
When once you could have married as fair a lady,
As ever the sun shone on."
13 "Despise her not," Lord Thomas said,
"Despise her not unto me;
For I do love your little finger,
More than her whole body."
14 The brown girl had a knife in her hand,
The point being keen and sharp;
Between the long rib and the short
She pierced Fair Elendar's heart.
15 "O are you sick?" Lord Thomas said,
"What makes you look so pale?
When once you had as cherry-red cheeks,
As ever my eyes beheld?"
16 "O are you blind, Lord Thomas?" she said,
"Or can you very well see;
Or can you see my own heart's blood
Come trickling down to my feet? "
17 Lord Thomas had a sword in his hand,
He walked up through the hall,
And cut the brown girl's head off
And dashed it against the wall.
18 Lord Thomas had a knife in his hand,
The point being keen and sharp;
Between the long rib and the short
He pierced it through his heart,
Saying, " Here's three lovers so merry did meet,
So sorrowful they must part!
19 "Go bury Fair Elendar at my right side,
The brown girl at my feet;
Go place a new Bible under my head:
So solemnly we may sleep!"