Lady Margaret- McKinney (WV) 1919 Cox F
[From Folk-Songs of the South- 1925 by John Harrington Cox. Footnotes moved to the end. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
11. FAIR MARGARET AND SWEET WILLIAM (Child, No. 74)
Seven variants have been recovered in West Virginia under the titles: "Sweet William," "Lady Margaret," and "Lady Margaret's Ghost." A glance at these ballads shows that they are largely identical; a comparison with the Child versions indicates that they are to be classed with group A, B, as witnessed by the blue suit, the dream of white swine, and the seven brethren.
For American texts see Child, v, 293 (Massachusetts); Journal, xix, 281 (Belden; Missouri); xxin, 381 (Combs; Kentucky); xxvni, 154 (Perrow; North Carolina) ; xxx, 303 (Kittredge; Missouri); xxxi, 74 (Waugh; Ontario); xxxv, 340 (Tolman and Eddy; Ohio); Wyman and Brockway, p. 94 (Kentucky); McGill, p. 69 (Kentucky; reprinted by Pound, No. 16); Campbell and
Sharp, No. 17 (Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia); Focus, iv, 426 (Virginia); Ralph, Harper's Monthly Magazine, July, 1903, cvn, 272 (Kentucky); Mackenzie, p. 124 (Nova Scotia); Smith, p. 18 (two tunes); Minish MS. (North Carolina). Cf. Shearin and Combs, p. 8; Belden, No. 5; F. C. Brown, p. 9; Bulletin, Nos. 2-6, 8-10; Cox, xlv, 159; Reed Smith, Journal,
xxvni, 200.
F. "Lady Margaret." Contributed by Miss Polly McKinney, Sophia, Raleigh County, 1919.
1 Sweet William arose one May, May morning,
He dressed himself in blue:
"Pray tell to me a long, long life
Between Lady Margaret and you."
2 "I know no harm of sweet Lady Margaret,
And she knows none of me;
By eight o'clock to-morrow morning
Lady Margaret my bride shall be." [1]
3 Lady Margaret was sitting in her own dining room,
Combing back her yellow hair,
When who should she see but Sweet William and his bride,
Both down to the church did go?
4 "Is Lady Margaret in her dining room?
Or among those ladies all?
Or is she dead and in her coffin,
A-leaning against the wall?"
5 "Lady Margaret is neither in her own dining room,
Nor among those ladies all;
But she is dead and in her coffin,
A-leaning against the wall."
6 "Raise up, raise up those winding sheets
That look so neat and fine,
And let me kiss Lady Margaret's lips,
As often as she's kissed mine."
7 The first he kissed was on her cheek,
The next was on her chin;
The next he kissed was her cold clay lips,
And he wished that life was in.
8 Lady Margaret was buried in the old churchyard,
Sweet William by her side;
Out of her grave there sprang a red rose,
And out of his grave a green brier.
9 They grew to the top of the old church wall,
They could not grow any higher;
They twittered and they twined in a true lover's knot,
The red rose and the green brier.
1. [my footnote] Lady Margaret my bride shall see."