Lord Thomas & Fair Eleanor- Simons SC c1828 Smith B
[My date, supplied from notes. From: South Carolina Ballads by Reed Smith; 1928. His notes follow,
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
Campbell and Sharp give eleven texts and eleven tunes, and Cox gives nine texts and mentions two others. Sharp gives one full text and tune, and refers to this as a very common ballad. He notes that the three lines between the twentieth and twenty-first stanzas of his variant are always spoken and never sung. The lines are:
Make me a grave both long and wide,
And lay fair Ellinor by my side
And the brown girl at my feet.
"This is the only instance of the kind," he adds, "that I have come across."
"Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor." Communicated by Miss Katharine Drayton Mayrant Simons, of Summerville, S. C., who gives the following account of it:
"This ballad has always been one of the nursery songs in our family and my earliest recollection of it is as sung by my grandmother, Harriet Hyrne Simons of Charleston. The verses of it which I inclose are sung still to-day by my grandfather, father and aunts. With the exception of Professor Compton's version, printed in your article, I have never seen the ballad in
writing, but have it only by memory as it has come down through generations in the family. My grandfather, William Simons of Charleston, re-members it as sung by his mother. The version I send you I vrote off from memory, and submitted for correction and corroboration to the members of my family who still remember and sing it. The ballad as I have written it off has been sung for at least a century in the Simons family of Charleston."
This variant very closely resembles Child's version D.
B. Lord Thomas & Fair Eleanor- Miss Katherine Simons; Summersville, SC; pre 1928 Smith B
1 Lord Thomas he was a bold forester,
And a chaser of the king's deer;
Fair Eleanor was a brave woman,
Lord Thomas he loved her dear!
2 'Now riddle my riddle, dear mother,' he cried,
'And riddle it all into one,
For whether to marry the Fair Eleanor,
Or bring you the brown girl home.'
3 'The Brown Girl, she hath both houses and lands,
Fair Eleanor, she has none;
Therefore I charge you upon my blessing
To bring me the brown girl home!'
4. He clothed himself in gallant attire,
His merrymen all in green;
And every borough that he rode thorough,
They took him to be some king.
5. And, when he reached Fair Eleanor's bower,
He knocked thereat, therein,
And, who so ready as Fair Eleanor
To let Lord Thomas in?
6. "What news? what news, Lord Thomas?" she cried,
"What news dost thou bring unto me?"
"I come to bid thee to my wedding,
And that is sad news for thee!"
7. "Now Heaven forbid, Lord Thomas," she cried,
"Thar any such thing should be done!
I thought to have been, myself, the bride,
And thou to have been the bridegroom!"
8. "Now, riddle my riddle, dear Mother," she cried,
"And riddle it all into one.
For whether I go to Lord Thomas's wedding,
Or whether I tarry at home?"
9. "There be many that be thy friend, Daughter,
But a thousand be thy foe:
Therefore I charge thee, upon my blessing,
To Lord Thomas's wedding don't go!"
10. "There be many that be my friend, Mother,
Though a thousand be my foe:
So, betide my life, betide my death,
To Lord Thomas's wedding I'll go!"
11. She decked herself in gallant attire,
Her tiremen all in green;
And every borough that she rode thorough,
They took her to be some queen.
12. And, when she reached Lord Thomas's door,
She knocked thereat, therein;
And who so ready as Lord Thomas
To let Fair Eleanor in.
13. "Be this your bride, Lord Thomas?" she cried.
"Methinks she looks wondrous brown!
Thou mightest have had as fair a woman
As ever the sun shone on!"
14. "Despise her not, Fair Ellen!" he cried.
"Despise her not unto me!
F'or better I love thY little finger
Than all of her whole bodY !"
15. The Brown Girl, she had a little pen-knife,
Which was both long and sharP;
And betrveen the broad ribs and the short,
She pierced Fair Eleanor's heart !
16. "O art thou blind, Lord Thomas?" she cried'
"Or canst thou not plainly see
My own heart's blood run trickling down,
Run trickling down to my knee ? "
17. Lord Thomas, he had a sword at his side,
And, as he walked up the hall,
He cut the bride's head from her shoulders
And flung it against the wall !
18. He placed the hilt against the ground,
The point against his heart!
So, never three lovers together did meet,
And sooner again did part!
19. They buried Fair Ellen beneath an oak tree,
Lord Thomas beneath the church spire;
And out of her bosom there grew a red rose,
And out of her lover's a briar!
20. They grew and they grew, till they reached the church top;
They grew till they reached the church spire;
And there they entwined in a true-lover's-knot,
For true-lovers all to admire!