Fair Ellender- Caldwell (NC) 1913 Perrow
[From: Songs and Rhymes from the South by E. C. Perrow; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 28, No. 108 (Apr. - Jun., 1915), pp. 129-190.
Fair Ellender, a fragment of the ballad, probably is from the collection of Miss Edith B. Fish of White Rock, Madison county who also send texts to Alphonso Smith around this time.
R. Matteson 2014]
7. FAIR ELLENDER (Child, 73) [1]
(From North Carolina; mountain whites; MS. lent E. N. Caldwell; 1913.)
"Come riddle to me my own true mother,
Come riddle us all as one,
Whether I must marry fair Ellender or not,
Or bring the brown girl home" (twice).
"The brown girl she has house and lands;
Fair Ellender she has none;
And I advise you, my own heart's blessing,
Go bring the brown girl home."
"Go saddle up my milk white steed,
Yourself you must dress in green."
And every town that she rode through
They took her to be a queen.
"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.
"Oh, dig my grave, dear mother," he said;
"Dig it both wide and deep;
And bury fair Ellender in my arms,
And the brown girl at my feet."
1 Compare this Journal, vol. xix, p. 235; vol. xx, p. 254; vol. xxiv, p. 332.