Fair Ellender and the Brown Girl- Fish (NC) 1913 Brown B
[My title. From Brown Collection of NC Folklore; 1952. Their notes follow.
Edith Blodgett Fish was born in 1872 in Brooklyn, New York. She married Thomas Lowery Shelton of Madison County, NC in
1919.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
Lord Thomas and Fair Annet (Child 73)
Of all the old ballads, this probably stands next to 'Barbara Allan' in popular favor. For its range in living tradition, both the old country and in America, see BSM 37-8 and add Tennessee (SFLQ XI 122-3), North Carolina (FSRA 23-4), Florida (SFLQ VIII 147-50), Arkansas (OFS i 99-101, 106-8), Missouri (OFS 1 94-9, 1 01 -6), Ohio (BSO 29-34), Indiana (BSI 58-70), Illinois (JAFL Lii 75-6), and Michigan (BSSM 37-9). American texts follow one general pattern with various differences in detail — mostly cases of leaving out or putting in. Of the fourteen texts in the Brown Collection only a few are here given in full.
B. 'Fair Ellender and the Brown Girl.' From the collection of Miss Edith B. Fish of White Rock, Madison county. She had sent this and other ballads to C. Alphonso Smith in 1913; shortly thereafter she sent it to the North Carolina collection. It corresponds rather closely to A [see A below], but adds two stanzas after Lord Thomas's announcement of his coming wedding:
'Come father, come mother, come riddle my riddle
And riddle it all as one;
Whether I must go to Lord Thomas's wedding
Or tarry along at home.
'There are many there that will he my friends.
There are many will he my foes.
I've entered life, I'll enter death,
And to the wedding I'll go.'
And appends the familiar quatrain directing his funeral:
'Go dig my grave both wide and deep
And paint my coffin black.
And bury fair Ellender in my arms
And the brown girl at my back.'
A. 'Lord Thomas and Fair Annet.' Secured by Dr. Brown in 1898-99 in Rockingham county, Virginia — not strictly speaking a North Carolina version but given here as being probably the first ballad he ever collected. In the second line "door" should of course be "deer"; the Virginia singer knew nothing of any "keeper" of deer but had heard of doorkeepers. The spelling "a tire" in stanzas 4 and 8 — in the manuscript it is "a 'tire" — indicates that to the singer the word was not "attire" but "tire" as in "tirewoman." Is "nought" in stanza 15 phonetic for the singer's pronunciation of "nut"?
1 Lord Thomas he being a bold young man,
A keeper of our king's door.
Fair Ellen she being a clever young woman,
Lord Thomas be loved her dear.
2 He went into his mother's room:
'Come riddle to me this one,
Whether I shall marry fair Ellen,' he says,
*Or bring the brown girl home?'
3 'The brown girl she has house and land,
Fair Ellinor she's got none;
Therefore I beseech you with my blessing
Go bring the brown girl home.'
4 He dressed himself in a tire of red.
His merry men all in green.
And every town that he rode thro'
They took him to be some king.
5 He rode till he came to fair Ellinor's bower,
He rapped at the ring.
There was none as ready as fair Ellinor herself
To rise and let him in.
6 'What news, what news, Lord Thomas?' she said,
'What news have you brought unto me?'
*I have come to bid you to my wedding,
And that's bad news for thee.'
7 'Oh, God forbid. Lord Thomas,' she said,
'That any such a thing should be done ;
For I thought to be the bride my own self,
And you was to be the bridegroom.'
8 She dressed herself in a tire of red,
Her merry maids all in green,
And eviery town that she rode thro'
They took her to be some queen.
9 She rode till she came to Lord Thomas' bower.
She rapped at the ring;
There was no one so ready as Lord Thomas himself
To rise and let her in.
10 He took her by her lily-white hand
And led her in the hall;
He sat her at the head of the table
Among the ladies all.
11 'Is this your bride. Lord Thomas?' she said.
'I think she looks wonderful brown.
For you might have had the fairest young woman
That ever trod English groun'.'
12 The brown girl had a small pen-knife,
It being sharp and keen;
Betwixt the long ribs and the short
She pierced fair Ellinor's heart.
13 'Oh, what's the matter, fair Ellen?' he said.
'I think you look wonderful pale.
You used to be the fairest young woman
That ever trod English groun'.'
14 'Why, are you blind, Lord Thomas,' she said,
'Or can you not very well see?
For don't you see my own heart's bleed
Come trickling down my knee?'
15 Lord Thomas he having a nought broad sword.
It being sharp and keen.
He cut off the brown girl's head
And dashed it against the wall.
16. He put the helve unto the floor,
The point unto his heart.
Was there ever three lovers so simple together
That were so soon to part?