Jealous Brothers- Hays (AR) 1962 REC Wolf C
[From: The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection at Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas.
R. Matteson 2016]
THE JEALOUS BROTHERS- Sung by: Mrs. Joan Arnold Hays. Recorded in Wilburn, AR 9/6/62. Mrs. Hays learned this ballad from her sister when they lived in Banner.
Listen to the recording: http://web.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/haysbramble1262.mp3
If you will listen to a mournful story,
I will now to you relate.
Of a nice young man who's fair and handsome,
Met a dreaded, bloody fate.
He courted a pretty little maiden,
Whom he loved more dear than life,
And unto him she faithfully promised
She would be his future bride.
She had two cruel brothers;
Brutal, brutal were their hearts,
And so these boys, they insisted
That these two must surely part.
So next morning, they rose early--
Game of hunting was in mind--
And so these boys, they insisted
For her true love to go with them.
They rode over hills, and they rode over mountains.
They rode over lands that were unknown,
Until they came to a lonely valley,
There they left him dead alone.
So that night, on their returning,
Their sisters asked where true love was.
"Oh, we lost him on that game of hunting,
No more of him could we find."
So that night while she was sleeping,
Her true love came in her dream.
Said, "They murdered me here, and they murdered me cruelly,
And left me in a pool of blood."
So next morning she rose early,
Dressed herself, put on her gloves.
She rode over hills and she rode over mountains,
She rode over lands that were unknown,
Until she came to a lonely valley,
There she found him dead alone.
His rosy cheeks were almost faded,
His lips were salt as even brine.
She kissed him o'er, and she kissed him over,
Saying, "They have killed my own true love."
So that night on her returning,
Her brothers asked where she had been.
"Oh, shut your mouth, you deceitful villains,
For you have killed my own true love."
So next morning they rose early,
And they started across the sea.
The winds blew high and the waves went over;
Now they're sleeping in the bottom of the sea.