Lord Daniel's Wife- (KY) 1916 Wyman; Kittredge III.
[No informant named by Kittredge/Wyman. From: Ballads and Songs by G. L. Kittredge; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 30, No. 117 (Jul. - Sep., 1917), pp. 283-369. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
LITTLE MUSGRAVE AND LADY BARNARD (Child, No. 81).
This famous ballad, one of the finest that exist, is well preserved in America. This Journal has printed a version from Nova Scotia, collected by Professor W. R. Mackenzie of Washington University, St. Louis (23 :371-374; 25 : 182-183: "Little Matha Grove"). Texts are reported from Kentucky by Shearin and Coombs[sic] (p. 8, "Lord Vanner's [or Lord Daniel's] Wife "),[1] from Virginia by Professor C. Alphonso Smith (Bulletin, No. 3, p. 4), from North Carolina by Professor F. C. Brown (p. 9, cf. JAFL 28 :201), from South Carolina by Professor Reed Smith (JAFL 28 : 201), and a fragment from West Virginia by Professor J. H. Cox (46 : 22, 64).
III. Lord Daniel's Wife - Collected by Miss Loraine Wyman, 1916, in Kentucky.
1. The first came down all dressed in red;
The next came down in green;
The next came down was Lord Daniel's wife,
She's as fine as any queen.
2. "Come and go home with me, little Gaby," she said,
"Come and go home with me to-night."
"For I know by the rings on your fingers
You are Lord Daniel's wife."
3. He had sixteen miles to go,
And ten of them he run;
He rode till he came to the broken-down bridge,
He held his breath and swum.
4. He swum till he come where the grass grows green,
He turned to his heels and he run;
He run till he come to Lord Daniel's gate,
He rattled those bells and rung.
5. He travelled over hills and valleys,
Till he come to his staff stand still;
He placed his bugle to his mouth
And blew most loud and shrill.
6. He took little Gaby by the hand,
And led her through the hall;
He took his sword, cut off her h'ead,
And kicked it agin the wall.