Lord Thomas- Underhill (VT) 1938 Flanders C
[From Flanders' Ancient Ballads, 1966. Notes by Coffin/Flanders follow. This version closely follows the English broadside, Child D.
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.
C. Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor. Mrs. Florence Underhill of Bellows Falls, Vermont, with two sisters, the Misses Young, furnished this song learned from their father, Edward, O. young (uncle of the former Dr. Ellis of Brookfield, Vermont).
H. H. F., Collector; December 2, 1938
Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor
Lord Thomas he was a bold forester
And a chaser of the king's deer,
Fair Eleanor was a fine woman,
And Lord Thomas he loved her dear.
"Come riddle my riddle, dear mother," he said,
"And riddle us both in one,
Whether I shall marry with Fair Eleanor
And let the Brown Girl alone."
"The Brown Girl she has got money,
Fair Eleanor she has none;
Therefore I charge this on my blessing
To bring the Brown Girl home."
And as it befell on a holiday
As many more do beside,
Lord Thomas he went to Fair Eleanor
That should have been his bride.
But when he came to Fair Eleanor's bower
He knock-ed at the ring;
Then who was so ready as Fair Eleanor
To let Lord Thomas in.
"What news, what news, Lord Thomas"' she said,
"What news hast thou brought unto me?"
"I am come to bid thee to my wedding,
And that is sad news for thee."
"Oh, God forbid, Lord Thomas," she said,
"That such thing ever should be done,
I thought to have been thy bride myself
And thou to have been the bridegroom."
"Come riddle my riddle, dear mother," she said,
"Come riddle it all in one,
Whether I shall go to Lord Thomas' wedding,
Or whether I shall let it alone."
"There's many that are our friends, daughter,
And many that are our foes.
Therefore I charge thee on my blessing
To Lord Thomas' wedding don't go."
"There's many that are our friends, mother;
If a thousand were our foes,
Betide me life, betide me death,
To Lord Thomas' wedding I'll go."
She clothed herself in a gallant attire
And her merry men all was seen
And as she rode through every place
They took her to be some queen.
When she came to Lord Thomas' gate,
She knock-ed at the ring,
And who was so ready as Lord Thomas
To let Fair Eleanor in.
He took her by the lily-white hand
And led her through the hall
And he sat her in the noblest chair
Among the ladies all.
"Is this your bride?" Fair Eleanor said.
"Methinks she looks wondrous brown;
You might have had as fair a woman
As ever trod upon the ground."
"Despise her not," Lord Thomas he said,
"Despise her not unto me.
For better I love her little finger
Than all your whole body."
This Brown Girl had a little penknife
Which was still both keen and sharp
And betwixt the short ribs and the long
She pricked Fair Eleanor to the heart.
"O Christ now save me, Lord Thomas," she said.
"Methinks thou lookest wondrous wan;
Thou used'st to look as good a color
As ever the sun shone on."
"Oh, art thou blind, Lord Thomas," she said,
"Or canst thou not very well see?
Oh, dost thou not see my own heart's blood
Run trickling down my knee?"
"Oh, dig my grave," Lord Thomas replied,
"Dig it both wide and deep
And lay Fair Eleanor by my side
And the Brown Girl at my feet."
Lord Thomas he had a sword by his side
As he walked about the hall;
He cut his bride's head from off her shoulders,
And flung it against the wall.
He set his sword upon the ground
And the point against his heart.
There never was three lovers sure
That sooner did depart.