Lord Lovel and Lady Nancy- Williams (MO) 1903 Belden A
[From: Old-Country Ballads in Missouri; II by H. M. Belden; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 19, No. 75 (Oct. - Dec., 1906), pp. 281-299. Listed in Ballads and Songs 1940.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
CHILD 75. - Lord Lovel
(a) LORD LOVEL AND LADY NANCY- Collected by Miss Williams in 1903, from a woman in Clinton County who learned it from a hired man in Kentucky.
Lord Lovel stood at his castle gate
A-combing down his milk-white steed:
Lady Nancy Bell came riding by
To wish her lover good speed, speed, speed,
To wish her lover good speed.
(Repeat so in each stanza.)
"Where are you going, Lord Lovel?" she said,
"Where are you going?" said she.
"I'm going to travel this wide world round,
Strange countries for to see."
"When will you be back, Lord Lovel? " she said,
"When will you be back? " said she.
"In a year or two, or three at the most,
I'll return to my Lady Nancy."
He had been gone but a year and a day,
Strange countries for to see,
When languishing thoughts came into his mind
All about his Lady Nancy.
He rode and he rode on his milk-white steed
Till he came to London town;
But when he came to his native city
He found the people mourning round.
"What is the matter?" Lord Lovel he said,
"What is the matter?" said he.
"A loved lady is dead," the people all said,
"Some called her the Lady Nancy."
He ordered her grave to be opened wide,
Her shroud to be turned down,
And then he kissed her clay-cold cheeks
Till the tears came trickling down.
Lady Nancy she died as it were to-day,
Lord Lovel he died to-morrow;
Lady Nancy was laid in St. Peter's churchyard,
Lord Lovel was laid in the choir.
And there they laid for many a year,
And there they laid, these two;
And out of her breast there grew a red rose,
And out of his a briar.
They grew and they grew to the church steeple top,
Till they could grow no higher,
And there they twined in a true-love knot
For all true lovers to admire, mire, mire,
For all true lovers to admire.