Lord Thomas- Ramenes (Ark.) 1914 Cox I
[From Folk-Songs of the South- Cox, 1925; His extensive notes follow.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
10. LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET (Child, No. 73)
Eleven variants have been recovered under the following titles: "The Brown Girl," "Fair Ellender and the Brown Girl" "Fair Ellender," "Fair Ellenger," "Lord Thomas," "Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor," and "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender" (cf. Cox, XIV, 120). All of these variants belong to the same version, and nine of them tell a complete story. D and H begin with a description of Lord Thomas. In the other variants the story begins by the hero's asking his mother to solve the riddle as to whether he shall marry Fair Eleanor or bring the brown girl home. Since the brown girl has house and lot (land) and Fair Eleanor has none, she advises him to marry the brown girl. Thereupon he dresses himself up in state, takes his merry men with him, rides to Fair Eleanor's hall, and invites her to his wedding on the morrow. She says that is very bad news to her for she expected to be his bride. Later she asks her mother to solve the riddle as to whether she shall go to Lord Thomas's wedding or stay at home. Her mother advises her to stay at home since she will have few friends at the wedding and many enemies, but she is determined to go. Thereupon she arrays herself in her finery, takes her merry maids with her, and rides to Lord Thomas's hall. In answer to her knocking, Lord Thomas himself lets her in, leads her into the hall, and chooses for her the highest seat. Fair Eleanor twits him with having married such a brown wife, whereupon the brown girl stabs her with a penknife between the short ribs and the long. Lord Thomas asks why she looks so pale and she suggests that he must be blind not to observe her heart's blood trickling down to her knee. With a little hand-sword Lord Thomas cuts off the head of the brown girl, kicks it against the wall, and then slays himself with the same sword. Before he dies, he requests that Fair Eleanor be buried in his arms and the brown girl at his feet.
The West Virginia variants are closely related to group D of Child, as is shown by many striking incidents in common, such as the meeting and quick parting of the lovers; Lord Henry loves the little finger of Fair Eleanor better than he does the whole body of the brown girl; Lord Thomas dressed in green and taken for a king; Lord Thomas dressed in black (the rhyme requires the word white) and taken for a knight ; Fair Eleanor taken for a queen; Fair Eleanor seated in the noblest chair, or chair of gold, or given the highest seat; the well in the yard of Fair Ellen's father.
For American texts see Child, in, 509 (Virginia; from Babcock, Folk-Lore Journal, VII, 33) Journal, XVIII 128 Barry: Vermont, Massachusetts by way of New Jersey) XIX 235, Belden; Missouri, Arkansas); xx, 254 (Pettit; Kentucky); XXVII, 71 (Barry; tune only); XXVIII 152 (Perrow; North Carolina); XXIX, 159 (Tolman; Pennsylvania by way of Kansas; texts reported from Virginia and Indiana); McGill, p. 26 (Kentucky); Focus, 111, 204, and IV, 162 (Virginia); Shoemaker, p. 138 (Pennsylvania); Campbell and Sharp, No. 16 (North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Massachusetts); Pound, No. 12 (Maryland by way of Nebraska); Mackenzie, p. 97 (Nova Scotia); Means, Outlook, September 9, 1899, LXIII, 120; Berea Quarterly, April, 1905, IX, No. 3, p. 10; October, 1910, XIV, No. 3, p. 27; October, 1915, XVIII, No. 4, p. 14; Child MSS., XXIII, article 73; Wyman MS., No. 9 (Kentucky); Minish MS. (North Carolina); The Forget-Me-Not Songster (New York, Nails & Cornish), p. 236. See also Belden, No. 4; Shearin and Combs, p. 8; Pound, p. n; F. C. Brown, p. 9; Bulletin, Nos. 2, 3, 5-10; Campbell, The Survey, New York, January 2, 1915, XXXIII, 374; Reed Smith, Journal, XXVII, 62; XXIII, 200.
I. "Lord Thomas." Communicated by Miss Maude Groves, Deepwell, Nicholas County, July, 1917; obtained from Minnie Taylor, Fenwick, West Virginia, who learned it from Mrs. Rhode Ramenes, Yadkin, Arkansas, 1914.
1 "O mother, come and riddle to me,
The things I dreamed last night:
Which to bring the brown girl home,
Or make Fair Elender my bride."
2 "The brown girl having house and land,
Fair Elender she has none;
O go and please your dear mother,
And bring the brown girl home."
3 Lord Thomas he rode and he rode,
Till he came to Fair Elender's hall,
And none was half so willing as Fair Elender herself
To rise and let him in.
4 "Lord Thomas . . .
What news have you brought to me?"
"I have come to ask you to my wedding,
To-morrow it shall be."
5. "Bad news, bad news, Lord Thomas," she said,
"Bad news to me," . . .
6 Next day she dressed in her scarlet bright,
Her maids all dressed in green;
Every city they 'd pass through,
They were taken to be some queen.
7 She rode, she rode till she came to Lord Thomas' hall,
She jingled at the ring;
None was half so willing as Lord Thomas himself
To rise and let her in.
8 He took her by the lily-white hand,
And led her through the marble hall;
He took her in the parlor,
And set her among those ladies all.
9 "Lord Thomas, is this your bride?
Why, she is scornfully brown;
When you could have chosen a fairer lady
As ever the sun shone on."
10 The brown girl having a little penknife,
Though very keen and sharp,
Between the long ribs and the short
She pierced Fair Elender's heart.
11 Lord Thomas having a little sword,
Very keen and sharp,
He cut off the brown girl's head
And kicked it against the wall.
12 Placing the handle to the floor,
The point toward the heart :
"Did you ever see three lovers meet,
As soon as these three part?
13 "So take us to the graveyard,
So wonderfully complete;
Bury Fair Elender in my arms,
The brown girl at my feet.