Fair Ellender- Moseley (KY) 1917 Sharp O
[My title, single stanza with music. From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians collected by Cecil J. Sharp and Olive Dame Campbell- Volume I; 1932 edition edited by Maud Karpeles. The 1932 edition notes follow.
Also in Raine, Land of the Saddle Bags, 1924 with additional text. This was secured by Raine, a teacher at Berea.
R. Matteson 2014]
No. 19. Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor.
Texts without tunes:—Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads, No. 73. Broadside by Catnach. C. S. Burners Shropshire Folk-Lore, p. 545. A. Williams's Folk Songs of the Upper Thames, p. 135. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xix. 235; xx. 254; xxviii. 152; xxxix. 94. Cox's Folk Songs of the South, p. 45 (see also further references).
Texts with tunes:—Kidson's Traditional Tunes, p. 40. English County Songs, p. 42. E. M. Leather's Folk-Lore of Herefordshire, p. 200. Sandys's Christmas Carols, tune 18. Journal of the Folk-Song Society, ii. 105; v. 130. Rimbault's Musical Illustrations of Percy's Reliques, p. 94. C. Sharp's English Folk Songs (Selected Edition), ii. 27 (also published in One Hundred English Folk Songs, No.28). Gavin Greig's Last Leaves, No. 28. Scots Musical Museum, vi, No. 535. Reed Smith's South Carolina Ballads, No. 6. Wyman and Brockway's Twenty Kentucky Songs, p. 14. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xviii. 128. British Ballads
from Maine, p. 128, Davis's Traditional Ballads of Virginia, pp. 191 and 568. McGill's Folk Songs of the Kentucky Mountains, p. 28. Sandburg's American Songbag, p. 156.
O. [Fair Ellender] Sung by Miss ABBY MOSELEY at Berea College, Madison Co., Ky., May 24, 1917
Pentatonic. Mode 2.
1. Mother, O mother, go riddle it down,
Go riddle it both as one,
Must I go marry fair Ellender dear,
Or bring the brown girl home?
2. The brown girl she has house and lands,
Fair Ellender she has none,
Therefore, dear child, under my consent,
Go bring the brown girl home.
3. He dressed himself in scarlet red;
His waiters all in green;
And in every town that he rode through
They took him to be some king.
4 . He rode up to fair Ellender's gate;
He dingled so loud on the ring.
There's no one so ready as fair Ellender
To rise and welcome him in.
5, What news, what news, Lord Thomas? she said,
What news have you brought unto me?
I come to ask you to my wedding,
The brown girl the bride to be. "
5. Mother, O Mother, come rede me a riddle,
Come riddle it both in one,
Whether to go to lord Thomas' wedding
Or tarry this day at home.
6. Many a one may be your friend,
And many a one your foe;
If I should advise you to do best,
It's tarry this day at home.
7. Many a one may be my friend,
And many a one my foe;
I'll venture, I'll venture my own heart's blood
To Lord Thomas' wedding I'll go.
8. She dressed herself in satin so white,
And her waiting maids in green,
And in every town that she rode through
They took her to be some queen.
9 She rode up to Lord Thomas' gate.
She dingled so loud on the ring;
There's no one so ready as Lord Thomas himself
To rise and welcome her in.
10. He gook her by the lily-white hand,
He led her through the hall,
And seated her at the table's head
Amongst the nobles all.
11. Is this your bride, Lord Thomas? she said,
That looks so wonderful brown,
When you might-have married as fair a lady
As ever the sun shined on.
12 Dispraise her nor, fair Ellen, he said,
Dispraise her not unto me,
For I think more of your little finger
Than I do of her whole body.
16. Oh, are you blind, Lord Thomas? she said,
Or can't you so very well see?
Don't you see my own heart's blood
Come trinkling down my knee?
17. He took the brown girl by the hand
And led her over the hall,
And with his sword he cut off her head
And pitched it against the wall.
18. He put the handle against the wall,
The point against his-breast,
Adieu, adieu to three dear loves-
God send them all to rest.
19. Go dig my grave both long and large,
And dig it wide and deep,
And bury fair Ellender in my arms,
The brown girl at my feet.