Lord Thomas- Delorme (NY) c1890 Flanders D
[From Flanders' Ancient Ballads, 1966. Notes by Coffin/Flanders follow. This version closely follows the English broadside, Child D.
I've assigned a date of circa 1890 but it was probably learned earlier. The informant, “Grandma” Lily Delorme, of Hardscrabble on the Saranac, NY, learned songs from parents and her grandfather, Gideon Baker, who fought in the War of 1812. Delorme was one of the best informants of Flanders and Olney (also Porter who recorded 100 of her songs). Most of her ballads date back into the 1800s since she was born in 1869 and learned them from her family. Mrs. Lily Delorme's offficial residence was Cadyville, New York. She was born in Schuyler Falls, New York, in 1859. Her father was born in Starksboro, Vermont; her mother, in Schuyler Falls, New York. This ballad was learned in her home as a child.
R. Matteson 2014]
Lord Thomas and Fair Annet
(Child 73)
Child prints nine versions of "Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor" or "The Brown Girl" as the ballad is so frequently called; all but one are Scottish. However, this one, Child D, a seventeenth-century English broadside, seems to be the progenitor of the entire American and modern British stock of the song. Child D variants have been found frequently on both sides of the Atlantic, and this circulation no doubt accounts not only for the fact most informants know or can recognize the ballad, but also for the fact there is little difference in the ballad from one area to another.
Belden, 38, points out some of the major differences between the Scottish tradition and the American versions of the song. The Scottish opening, borrowed from "Fair Margaret and Sweet William" (Child 74), and the remarks exchanged between the women on the brown girl's complexion are both missing in this country, as may be the "rose-briar" cliche, common to Child 74 and Child 75 in "Lord Lovel"). Furthermore, the American hero himself and, not his messenger goes to see Eleanor, and he seeks advice from his mother, never other members of the family. As many texts in this country open with a description of Lord Thomas as a "bold forester," the phrase used in the Nafis and Cornish Forget-Me-Not Songster, there is little doubt this popular volume had much to do with the spread and consistency of the ballad throughout the States.
D. Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor. Sung by Mrs. Lily Delorme of Cadyville, New York. M. Olney, Collector; December 8, 1941
Lord Thomas, he was a bold forester
And a chaser of the king's deer.
Fair Eleanor was a fine woman
And Lord Thomas loved her dear.
"Come riddle my riddle, dear mother," he said,
"And riddle it all in one,
If I shall wed with Fair Eleanor
Or bring the Brown Girl home."
"The Brown Girl, she has got money
But Fair Eleanor, she has none;
Therefore, I advise thee, my life blessing,
To bring the Brown Girl home."
He rode till he came to Fair Eleanor's gate
And he knock-ed at the ring.
There was none so ready as Fair Eleanor
To let Lord Thomas in.
"What news, what news, Lord Thomas," she cried,
"What news do you bring unto me?"
"I've come to invite you to my wedding
And that is sad news to thee."
"O God forbid," Fair Eleanor cried,
"That such a thing should happen to me.
I thought to have been a bride myself
And you to have been the bride's groom."
"Come riddle my riddle, dear mother," she said,
"And riddle it all in one,
Whether I should go to Lord Thomas' wedding
Or whether I stay at home."
"There's many that are our friends, daughter,
But many more are our foes.
Therefore, I advise thee by my blessing
To Lord Thomas' wedding don't go."
She dressed herself in gallant attire,
With her merry men all to be seen,
And every town that they rode through,
They took her to be a queen.
And when she came to Lord Thomas' gate,
She knock-ed at the ring.
There was none so ready as Lord Thomas himself
To let Fair Eleanor in.
He took her by the lily-white hand
And led her through the hall
And seated her all in the noblest chair
Around the ladies all.
"Is this your bride, Lord Thomas?" she said,
"Methinks she looks wondrous brown.
You might have had as fair a lady
As ever the sun shone on."
The Brown Girl had a knife in her hand
Which was both keen and sharp.
Betwixt the long ribs and the short
She pierced Fair Eleanor's heart.
"Oh, what is the matter?" Lord Thomas, he cried,
"Methinks you look wondrous wan.
You used to have as fair a color
As ever the sun shone on."
"Oh, art thou blind, Lord Thomas," she said,
"Or canst thou not plainly see?
Canst thou not see that my own heart's blood
Runs trickerling down to my knee?"
Lord Thomas he had a sword in his hand
As he walk-ed through the hall.
He cut his bride's head from her shoulder
And threw it against the wall.
"Go dig my grave," Lord Thomas, he cried,
"And dig it broad and deep,
And lay Fair Eleanor by my side
And the Brown Girl at my feet."
He laid his sword upon the ground,
With the point against his heart,
And there never was three lovers sure
That sooner did depart.