Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor" a Preliminary Study
"Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor" a Preliminary Study of the Ballad
Richard Harris
Midwest Folklore, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Summer, 1955), pp. 79-94
[Barely proofed, R. Matteson 2014]
"LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ELLINOR"
A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF THE BALLAD BY RICHARD HARRIS
The Story and Possible Origin
The ballad of "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor" (Child 73)- that tragic story with which mountain mothers sing their little ones to sleep-enjoys a wide popularity as is shown by the large scope of its distribution. Reed Smith says that, with the exception of "Barbara Allen," "Lord Thomas" is the most widely distributed of British-Scottish ballads in America.[1] The reason for its constant use as a lullaby lies in the nature of the tunes which carry the words in a manner oddly suited to the story. This story is simply told: Lord Thomas is in love with Fair Ellinor (A), but thinks he should marry the brown girl. He consults his mother about which of the two girls he should marry (B); his mother tells him to marry the brown girl. He then rides to Ellinor (C) and tells her the bad news (D). She, in turn, consults her family (E), and prepares to go to the wedding (F). After she rides to the wedding (G), she confronts the bride (H), either in silence or with insults. The result is that the three principals die (I) and are buried (L). A fuller discussion of the traits is given below.
The present study is based on but thirty-six variants, fifteen taken from Francis Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads, and twenty-one from various American collections. Child, of course, was concerned mainly with Scottish, English, and Irish variants; the American variants referred to here have been drawn from Newfoundland to Mississippi and from Carolina to Illinois. There are in America perhaps ten times the number that have been collected, and there is the possibility-not entirely unlikely-that variants of the ballad have been transmitted farther west than any collection to date indicates. If the present study accomplishes no other purpose, it should at least raise certain questions with regard to this ballad's origin and transmission, questions which are impossible to answer now. One thing which can be pointed out with some certainty is the manner in which the ballad has been changed in accordance with the practices of American ballad singers.
Many variants of "Lord Thomas" have been collected in North America; yet it may never be known just how many variants have existed at any time in past centuries (and in other countries) before ballad collecting became a serious occupation in the second half of the eighteenth century. For this reason, the particular geographical origin of "Lord Thomas" will always be a matter of conjecture, since Scottish and English variants are so few. Indeed, the origin may well be Norse if the Norse variant found by Grundtvig was not transmitted from Scotland or England.[2]
Coffin maintains that most American variants follow Child D,a.[3] Flanders says of the ballad that "One of the earliest known English versions of this ballad is a broadside of Charles the Second's time and licensed by one, 'L'Estrange,' who was a censor from 1663 to 1685. Samuel Pepys admired it and it is now in 'black letter copy' in the Magdalen College, Cambridge, England."[4] There are, however, grounds for a certain amount of doubt, not upon Miss Flander's evidence, but upon the assumption that the Child Da variant is the parent of all subsequent ones. Pepys collected it as a broadside; there is no evidence of its ever having been in oral circulation. Admittedly, a ballad can be taken into oral circulation from a broadside, but this is only a possibility.[5] It Seems more likely that the ballad goes farther back than the presence of this broadside would indicate.
On the other hand, the ten Scottish variants recorded by Child display evidence of oral circulation. At least eight of them come from old manuscripts or were taken from reciters in the field. These Scottish variants seem to cluster into two versions: five of them are of an average length and form which are recognizable in a number of American variants; the other five (one incomplete) constitute a redaction which differs markedly from the other version. Much of the language in these variants is in dialect, indicating, perhaps, a thoroughly entrenched tradition. As will be seen below, many of the idioms are peculiarly native to Scotland-idioms which sound false when transferred without apparent understanding. Then, too, the Scottish variants are the longest at hand, some having as many as forty or forty-three stanzas.
One may conjecture that, if "Lord Thomas" originated in Scotland, the early singers of the ballad did not recognize the nascent supremacy of the original author or authors. They felt themselves free to take liberties with the text, and several of them did to a great extent. The resulting redaction probably took place a long time after the original version had gained currency-and after the departure of those people who settled in America, for there is not one remnant of the redaction in the American variants which the present author has studied.
The factors of oral circulation, linguistic originality, and length point to the origin of the ballad in Scotland. Whether it came to America via Ireland or England, or straight from Scotland, is a moot question. It might have come by way of Ireland, since one of the Irish variants collected by Child possesses nearly all the traits. But that variant was collected very late-too late to be significant.[6] On the average, the American versions have eighteen traits (out of twenty-six) in common with the Scottish. It would be presumptuous to say here to which place in North America the ballad first came. Perhaps one might say that versions from Newfoundland, Maine and the Appalachian mountains were the earliest, since they seem to retain the ballad in its "purest" form. Later on, of course, individual singers began to add their own conceits. Yet, in all discussion of the point of origin of "Lord Thomas" and of the ballad's exact trail of influence, more variants would be needed to make any really significant points. The Composition The stanzaic pattern of the variants of "Lord Thomas" is almost uniform throughout. As is well known, the "poetry" of the popular ballad is a rather free quantity, varying indiscriminately and at will. In general, it is enough to say that in this ballad the stanzas are made up of four verses riming ABCB with three or four accents in each line, although both accents and feet are likely to shift within a single stanza. Occasionally, the first and third lines may rime, but such stanzas are usually repetitions. Assonance is not unknown.
There are only four known refrains in the variants collected here, if one can indeed call them refrains. In all cases, it is the last two lines of each stanza that are repeated. In two variants, this pattern is regular.[7] One variant from Mississippi[8] is very irregular in its appearance; and in a variant from South Carolina, the refrain is sung ". . . where the singer is so inclined."[9] Of the various rhetorical devices found in "Lord Thomas," the first which might be mentioned is pure repetition. The widely separated stanzas depicting the hero and heroine riding serve as an example: He dressed himself up in a suit of fine clothes, With merry men all in white; And there was not a town that he rode through But they took him to be a knight. She dressed herself up in a suit of fine clothes With merry maids all in green; And there was not a town she rode through But took her to be a queen.[10]
There are three places, generally speaking, where incremental repetition occurs: when Lord Thomas consults his family, when Ellinor consults her family, and when Ellinor encounters the brown girl. An example of the first is more obvious, although not so common: 'O rede, 0 rede, mither,' he says, 'A gude rede gie to mee; O sall I tak the nut-browne bride, And let Faire Annet bee?' And he has till his brother gane: 'Now, brother, rede ye mee; O sall I marrie the nut-browne bride, And let Fair Annet bee?"[11] Finally, there are the elements of leaping and lingering. In most of the American variants, the scenes tend to be divided more sharply than do those in the Scottish ones, which are longer and contain more transitional stanzas. While this tendency towards compression has benefitted the majority of American variants, there have been one or two cases of gross misfortune.
The length of "Lord Thomas" varies from nine to forty-five stanzas. In general, however, the most satisfactory variants contain from thirteen to twenty-five stanzas. Various embellishments account for the divergencies. There are several bits of evidence that point to variants that may have been, or may be, as long as fifty stanzas. Many of the Scottish variants have fragmentary stanzas, which may mean first a fragmentary stanza or perhaps a whole fragmentary part. Niles says that his father knew fifty stanzas for the ballad.[12] The various musical settings of the ballad in America differ widely, both in key and tonal range. So far as the present author knows, no tune for the ballad has survived in Scotland, England, or Ireland. The tunes are always irregular, since the singers are self-trained and/or illiterate. Thomas' words on this subject seem to define the problem quite accurately: "The Kentucky mountain singers are not versed in the so-called laws of musical grammar . . . They start in one key and end in another. Sometimes it is a puzzle to know what key they are in at all. They raise and lower the notes of the scale unexpectedly. They sing 'between the cracks.' They end their songs disconcertingly on unusual notes."[13]
The Content
The reader is by now acquainted with the characters of the ballad. It only remains to link the color-motifs in the ballad with concepts in other realms of folklore. In folktales, fair-skinned people are considered good, while dark-skinned people are held to be evil. This motif is contained in many tales. As Niles says, "In practically all romantic folk-tales, fair-haired ladies are endowed with all the virtues, while every imaginable crime is laid to the dark-complexioned ones."[14] Mrs. Greenleaf has pointed out that some people are not very respectful of the traditions of the ballads when she quotes a youth of Newfoundland exclaiming: "Just imagine, when they were all lying in one grave, and the trump sounded for the Judgement Day, and they was all scrabbling for their bones, if Lord Thomas should get one of the brown girl's legs!"[15]
There are few emphatic changes in the bulk of the variants. The Scottish redaction, which is discussed later,. being a different version of the ballad, has departed from the main version in several respects. Just what embellishments were first added to the ballad is uncertain. These embellishments seem to be: the hero riding to tell the bad news, the heroine preparing for the wedding and riding to it, and the lament or moral. Other, shorter, embellishments should be discussed in connection with commonplaces and stock epithets, of which there are a number. "Bold forrester," "fair woman," "merrymen all in green," "wondrous brown," "lily-white hand," "milk-white steed," are all stock epithets applying here, and could be applied (and are applied) elsewhere in the realm of balladry. "As pretty a bride as even the sun shone on" and "they took her to be a queen" are epithets that everywhere are said about the heroine. There are, also, a number of commonplaces in "Lord Thomas." "Come riddle, come riddle" is repeated constantly from variant to variant. The phrase has a long history in balladry. "Knocked there at the ring" and "tirled at the pin" is another commonplace met with frequently. Lord Thomas' rebuke "for better I love thy little finger" is frequent, as is the reference to "water so clear" which the heroine uses on her face. The moral, which is frequently a couplet, is another commonplace which varies little from variant to variant. The above are a few of the prominent stock-epithets and commonplaces found in a majority of the variants.
In addition to commonplaces, there are two examples of colloquialisms. In describing the horse which the heroine rides, one variant describes it as a "rarin' steed." The other instance is to be found in the place where the hero leads the heroine through the hall and seats her in a "rocking chair." These examples are traces of Americanization. Elsewhere, the ballads seem to be neutral as to their actual heritage. The Scottish variants with their dialect, differ widely from this rule. There are few violations of the impersonality of this ballad. When the violations occur, they do so in the moral, when the narrator, and not the hero, seems to be speaking.
The Traits
As has been seen, "Lord Thomas" contains a multiplicity of traits, not only in relation to the several scenes, but in relation to many other characteristics of the story. The discussion of the content has given some indication of the latter point. The student of balladry cannot possibly realize how diverse the variants of one ballad are unless he subjects those variants to an exhaustive analysis. This is what has been attempted with "Lord Thomas." As was said before, an analysis such as this, with so few variants, cannot answer all the questions which might arise concerning "Lord Thomas"; nevertheless, one can appreciate by this means what has happened to the ballad in America. The first thing one notices is the diversity of titles and of the names of the main characters. Lord Thomas is fairly constant throughout, although in Scottish variants he is often "Sweet Willie." The name "Thomas" is probably of English influence. In twenty four variants, he is uncharacterized; in the others, he may be anything from a "gay young man" to a "bold forrester" or a "noble lord." When he is one of these, he may also be "keeper of King's deer." In one American variant, strangely enough, he is called "the heir o Duplin town."[16] Fair Ellinor is subject to more variation. In the Scottish variants, she is "Annie" or "Annet" or even "Helen." From this, it was probably natural for singers to drop the asperate "h," changing it to "Ellen," "Ellinor" and "Ellender." In two cases, the confusion of sounds is obvious, as when the heroine is called "Fairrellater"[17] and "fair Rillinder."[18] As with Lord Thomas, she is mostly uncharacterized. In isolated variants, she may be anything from a "fair woman" to a "gay lady" or a "lady most bright." The villainess of the piece-the brown girl-is almost the same throughout. In some, she is the "nut-brown bride" or just the "brown bride." In one American variant, the singer has made a confusion between the "brown" as a description and as a family name."[19] Her possessions vary a great deal, but in twenty-two variants, they are "house(s) and land(s)." Thus, the first trait (A) of the ballad comprises an introductory stanza: Lord Thomas he was a bold forrester, And a chaser of the king's deer; Faire Ellinor was a fair woman, And Lord Thomas he loved her dear.[20]
After the introduction, Lord Thomas consults his family (B) which in twenty-five variants, consists only of his mother. His mother, like many wise mothers down through the ages, advises him to marry the brown girl because she is wealthy. 'The brown girl she has got houses and lands, And Fair Ellinor she has got none; Therefore I charge you on my blessing To bring me the brown girl home,' Hereupon, Lord Thomas rides to Ellinor to tell her the bad news (C and D). A number of American variants describe what he wears on this mission, and if he is accompanied, what his companions wear. The people in the towns through which he passes mistake him for royalty, or something equally splendid. This, too, is largely an American development. These traits usually comprise two to four stanzas, although there may be more in the Scottish ones (as in B). In eight American variants, he tells her the day he is to be married. One variant gives the day as "next Thursday," while another gives it as "today." Five variants give the date as "tomorrow"; lastly, one states "next Tuesday." After she has received the bad news, Ellinor, too, consults her mother as to her course of action and decides to go to the wedding (E). Her family warns her against going, but she is resolute.
'There's many that are your friends, daughter,
And many that are your foe;
Therefore I charge you on my blessing,
To Lord Thomas's wedding don't go.'
'There's many that are my friends, mother,
If a thousand more were my foe,
Let the wind blow high or low,
To Lord Thomas's wedding I'll go.[21]
Ellinor's ride to the wedding (G) comprises one stanza and, as noted above, is an example of incremental repetition; in form, it parallels the ride of Lord Thomas mentioned earlier. In fifteen variants, she rides alone; in eighteen, she is accompanied.
There is much variation on what she wears and what her companions wear. Basically, her dress is scarlet red (as is the hero's), while the dress of her companions is green (the hero's companions are in white in the majority of these variants which mention them). The following stanza is an example of this trait:
She dressed herself up in a suit of fine clothes,
With merry maids all in green;
And there was not a town that she rode through
But took her to be a queen.[22]
One variant intimates that it must have been indeed a grand scene, for as her companions she had ". . . four and twanty gay gude knichts/. .. And four and twanty fair ladies."[23] Quite an entourage for so poor a girl! One trait which is partly connected with G and partly with F (more detailed preparation which properly belongs to the Scottish redaction) is the description of the heroine's horse. It seems to be restricted to the Scottish variants. When the heroine is preparing to ride to the wedding, she calls for her tailor and smith, along with her companions. While the maidens plait her hair, etc., her tailor makes her dress and the smith tends to the horse. There is only one reference at this point to the horse in the American versions-then it is two horses: [24] "iron gray" and "milkwhite"-widespread commonplaces both of them. In the Scottish variants, it is the horse's mane that is referred to as being hung with silver bells, or to the hooves as being shod with silver before and gold behind. On the other hand, when the heroine is actually riding to the wedding, there is more similarity between the Scottish and American variants. The silver bells and precious shoeing are again mentioned, but it is when one comes to the way the horse goes that one becomes aware of kindred meaning, yet of linguistic differences. In two Scottish variants, her horse "amblit or bounded like the wind," while in one American variant, . . .she rode on a rearin' steed."[25] Two other American variants carry this same trait, but not as forcefully. In all variants, Ellinor confronts the brown bride (H), but what exactly takes place in this climactic scene is a matter of some complexity. First of all, the location of the wedding is usually at Lord Thomas' house; specific mention is given to "gate" (more common) or "hall." In four variants, the scene is a church. When one comes to the actual confrontation, there are no less than four individual parts to be seen: hero's conduct, heroine's comments, hero's rejoinder, bride's questions and the heroine's rejoinder. The hero's conduct, usually contained in one stanza, is found in twenty-one variants:
He took her by the lily-white hand,
And led her through the hall;
He set her in the highest chair,
Among the ladies all.[26]
Sometimes he may seat the heroine at the "head of the table," in "the noblest chair," in a "chair of gold," or, in more humble fashion, "down in a rocking chair."[27] Usually, she is seated, as noted above, among the ladies, but sometimes she is put among "the gentry" of "the quality all." In two instances only does the hero do otherwisehe gives her a rose.[28] The heroine's comments on the bride are even more widespread than the hero's conduct (found in twenty-nine variants). In this part, she comments on the color of the bride and says that the hero could have done better with her.
'Is this your bride?' Fair Ellen she said,
'Methinks she looks wonderous browne;
Thou mightest have had as fair a woman
As ever trod on the ground.'[29]
This is a typical example. A more humorous example is provided in a Scottish variant:
'Brown, brown is your steed,' she says,
'But browner is your bride;
But gallant is that handkerchy
That hideth her din hide.'[30]
There are two exceptions to this rule: in one variant the heroine speaks with her father about the bride, and the bride evidently overhears; in the other, the members of the wedding party ask the hero which girl is his bride. The hero's rejoinder, following the heroine's spiteful comments is less common; it appears in only fifteen variants. In the most common version, he says that he loves the heroine's little finger more than he loves the bride's whole body. Similarly, in another variant he says to the bride: "I've mair love for Fair Annie this day/ Than I'll have for you till I dee."[31] In another variant, he attempts to console the heroine: "For happy is that bonny, bonny lad/ That leads his life with thee."[32] The bride's questions and the heroine's rejoinder are restricted to seven of the Scottish variants and two of the Irish. In this, the bride asks the heroine where she got the "rose water," "roseberry water," or "water," that makes her face so white. The heroine replies that she got it from her "mother's womb," "aneath yon marble stane," "below an olive tree," or from her "father's well." In four variants, she makes some further earthy remark to the effect that the bride can never be as white. For ye've been washed in Dunny's well, And dried on Dunny's dyke, And a' the water in the sea Will never wash ye white. This gives the general intention.
In one variant, the heroine sneers at the bride for having been "christened wi' moss water."[33] After these various insults, the brown girl becomes incensed and stabs Ellinor (I) with her "little penknife," although she uses, in one instance, a "long bodkin." Ellinor, however, does not immediately perish as a result of this onslaught, but seems to swoon. Lord Thomas is somewhat slow in noticing this:
'Oh Christ now save thee,' Lord Thomas he said,
'Methinks thou lookst wondrous wan;
Thou wast usd for to look with as fresh a colour
As ever the sun shin'd on.'
'Oh art thou blind, Lord Thomas?' she sayd,
'Or canst thou not very well see?
Oh dost thou not see my own heart's blood
Runs trickling down my knee?'[34]
But, all at once, Lord Thomas sees what has happened; he thereupon takes his sword, and chops off the brown girl's head, and throws it against the wall. Before taking his own life, he asks that he and his two lady-loves (and sometimes his mother) be buried in such-and-such a manner. The description of the place of burial is almost the exclusive property of the Scottish redaction. In five variants, the hero is buried "without kirk-wa," while the heroine is buried "within the quiere." In one Irish variant, the brown girl is buried "at the end of the church," this allusion being tied in with the manner of burial for the hero and the heroine. The only American variant describing the place of burial is contained in a couplet (preceding the moral) spoken by the hero: "Go dig me a grave out under the sky,/ A grave where the willows weep . . ."[35] With its sweep and depth of feeling, this is far from the austerity depicted in the Scottish versions.
In addition, at least eighteen variants contain a moral. The moral has evidently been substituted by singers in place of such detailed stanzas depicting the manner or place of burial. The cluster of Scottish and English versions have approximately the same wording: "There was never three lovers that ever met/ More sooner they did depart." One version to be more specific about the dispositions of the principals: "So there was an end of these three lovers,/ Thro spite and malice all."[36] The American variants, for the most part, call on the Almighty: "Here is the end of three true lovers;/ Lord take them home to rest."[37]
Special Considerations
The briar motif, sometimes encountered in the ballad, can hardly be considered a redaction; it is more of a confusion which singers have made, connecting "Lord Thomas" with two other ballads of a similar nature: "Fair Margaret and Sweet William" (Child 74) and "Lord Lovel" (Child 75). [38] In the former ballad, the heroine, from her window, sees her beloved go off with his bride; she dies of love; the hero dreams of her, and so dies, too. In this, there is no real scene of conflict. In "Lord Lovel" the lady dies, as Child says, "of hopes too long deferred." Again, there is no real central conflict or climax to the piece. Thus, by their form, they cannot be included in the present study. This confusion of ballads exists in five Scottish variants and two Irish ones, and only one American variant. It would seem, then, that American singers have not been prone to make the confusion that their European colleagues have made. As Smith says, the briar ending is, perhaps, the tragic counterpart of "they lived happily ever after."[39] There is also the possibility of confusing "Lord Thomas" with Child 63, "Fair Annie," or "Lord Thomas and Fair Annie." In some respects, the two ballads are quite similar. There is the same triangle with Fair Annie ostensibly getting the worst of it. But, this time, hero and heroine have been married for seven years, during which time Annie has had seven sons. Still Lord Thomas is not satisfied with her, so he goes over the sea to fetch home a "braw" or "bright" bride. When the bride sees that Annie is weeping, she asks her who she is; Annie reveals her noble birth, whereupon the bride gives Annie her own treasure which she has brought, and departs for home. Poor Lord Thomas; he is forever in the middle of things, whether the outcome be good or bad!
Certain of the Scottish variants constitute a redaction, although some of them enter into the other traits normally.[40] The first trait of the redaction is found in A-- the scene on the hill. These stanzas were probably composed in order to show the precipitation of ill feeling between the hero and heroine, thus demonstrating that the heroine's rejection was not entirely due to the advice of the hero's parents.
'Thick, thick lie your lands, Willie,
Down by the coving-tree;
And little wad a' your friends think
0 sic a bride as me.'
'O Fair Annie, 0 Fair Annie,
This nicht ye've said me no;
But lang or ever this day month
I'll make your heart as sore.'[41]
In C and D, the second deviation is apparent in the personage of a messenger, a "bonny boy" who appears from nowhere and carries the bad news of the heroine. Whenever the messenger carries his news, he carries also specific instructions as to what the heroine is to wear to the wedding. 'Ye manna put on the black, the black, Nor yet the dowie brown, But the scarlet sae red, and the kerches sae white, And your bonny locks hanging down.'[42] This clothes tabu is almost the same in the four variants that carry it; the heroine may not wear either black or brown, but she is to wear red and white. It is interesting to point out the similarity between this injunction and that contained in Handy's "St. Louis Blues":
Gypsy done tol' me,
'Don't you wear no black.'
Yes, she done tol' me,
'Don't you wear no black.
Go to St. Louis, you can win him back.'
Indeed, there is here great similarity in spirit as well. In trait F, the redaction is noticeable once more, in that it distinguishes between the heroine's preparation for the wedding, and her actual journey to it. Only two variants of this version described this preparation, though. When the heroine rides to the wedding, three of the variants describe how she looks on her horse in contrast to the hero:
When Annie was in her saddle set
She glanced like the fire
There was as much gould above her brow
Was worth a yearl's hire.
Annie gaed in the heigh, heigh hill,
And Willie the dowie glen;
Annie alane shone brighter
Than Willie and a' his men.
If no other traits distinguish the redaction, traits J and K most certainly do, for they are its exclusive property. In this there is no killing. The hero is made aware, more subtly, for what he has been responsible, and he goes penitently to the heroine's bier, there prophesying that he will die on the morrow. Only three variants describe the burial of the hero and heroine. Nothing is said of the fate of the bride. In summary, the Scottish redaction runs thus: Willie and Annie quarrel on a hill (A). The hero consults his mother whether he should marry Annie or the brown bride (B); she tells him that he must marry the brown bride because she has oxen and kye. A messenger is thereupon sent (C) to tell Annie the bad news and invite her to the wedding, adding that she must wear certain clothes (D). Annie's horse is made ready (F), and she at once rides to the wedding alone and in such splendor that people mistake her for a queen (G). She and the bride confront each other (H). The bride asks Annie where she got the water which washes her face so white, and Annie tells her, adding some colorful remark to her rejoinder. But nothing comes of it; Willie and his bride go off to bed, where Annie appears to them in an apparition (J) and curses them. The hero visits Annie's bower and prophesies his death (K). On the morrow, he is buried without the church, while Annie is buried in the choir (L). Summary From the foregoing analysis, it is obvious that the variants given have a great deal in common. It is hoped that the fairly exhaustive treatment given the above variants has helped to establish both this fact and also the fact of the great diversity and artistry of the singers.
With one or two exceptions, the ballad of "Lord Thomas" has come down fairly unchanged both in length and quality. Looking over the summary of the scenic traits, one finds that only three traits-- B, E, H-- have suffered any damage. But, further, one may see that when the variants which constitute the Scottish redaction are removed, those traits are seen to have suffered hardly at all. With an eye to the ultimate origin of this ballad, one must look to the length of the Scottish variants. Two of them contain thirty and forty stanzas respectively. Not including the redaction, they are the longest variants at hand. This is noticeable in three places: trait B, in which the hero consults his family; in F, in which the heroine prepares for the wedding; and H, in which the heroine and bride confront each other. In later variants, of course, reciters probably did not care to list all the members of the hero's family. Neither did they wish to prepare the heroine for the wedding. They wanted a handy, catch-all stanza to describe her and get her to the wedding all at once: She dressed herself in scarlet red, Her mantle was white and green, And every town she rode around, She was taken for a queen. However, the case is not quite so promising with the H trait. This is indeed unfortunate, since there is hardly any motive provided for the killing. But this procedure has been stabilized in the American versions. Thus, the ballad of "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor" has come down to the present day shorn of many of the traits which it formerly possessed or may have possessed. In looking over the American variants, one becomes conscious of a number of things. In the first place, the length has been fairly stabilized, and everything is given due proportion by the singers. Second, American singers, far from destroying any "old world" quality which the ballad possesses, have added small touches of their own which re-enforce the effect and give the hearer a sense of listening to a work that is compact and unified. Indeed, the American variants of "Lord Thomas" may be better examples of oral tradition than those variants collected in former times. Lastly, this ballad is as fine an argument as can be found to justify the belief that ballads have not died out in America. As Thompson says of the folktale, "They will long continue to be one of the chief means of furnishing education and solace to unlettered men and women."[43] The same may be said of ballads like "Lord Thomas" which still give enjoyment to great number of people.[44]
Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana
Footnotes:
1. Reed Smith, South Carolina Ballads (Cambridge, 1928), p. 109.
2. S. Grundtvig and A. Olrik, Danmarks gamle folkeviser (Copenhagen, 1853-1920), IV, 219.
3. Tristram P. Coffin, The British Traditional Ballad in North America (Philadelphia, 1950), p. 75. Cf. Smith, loc. cit.
4. Helen Hartnes Flanders, A Garland of Green Mountain Song (Northfield, 1934), p. 70; Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (Boston, 1885), III, 187. "L'Estrange" was, of course, Sir Roger L'Estrange the journalist, linguist and translator (Aesop's Fables, etc.).
5. And a remote possibility at that. One can hardly imagine the unlettered singer announcing. to his patrons that he is going to sing "A Tragical Story of Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor, Together with the Downfall of the Brown Girl" (Child D, a).
6 Child Di. Child took the variant in question from Ellen Daily, Taunton, Massachusetts. Since she was a first generation American, or possibly second, it is likely that her variant was almost purely Irish with a minimum of American influence.
7. John Jacob Niles, Seven Kentucky Mountain Tunes (New York, 1928), p. 12; Flanders, loc. cit.
8. Arthur Palmer Hudson, Folksongs of Mississippi and their Background (Chapel Hill, 1936), p. 84.
9. Carl Sandburg, The American Songbag (New York, 1927), p. 156. '0 Child Dh. 11 Child A.
12 Niles, p. 13.
13 Jean Thomas, Devil's Ditties (Chicago, 1931), p. 68.
14 Niles, loc. cit.
15 Elisabeth Bristol Greenleaf, Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland (Cambridge, 1933), p. 20.
16 Hudson, Folksongs, p. 78.
17 Ibid., p. 84.
18 A. P. Hudson, George Herzog and Herbert Halpert, Folktunes from Mississippi, National Service Bureau, 25 (December, 1937), p. 13 (2nd edition).
19 Celestin Pierre Cambiaire, East Tennessee and Western Virginia Mountain Ballads (London, 1934), p. 115.
20 Child Dh.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid.
23 Child A.
24 Louis W. Chappell, Folk-Songs of Roanoke and the Albemarle (Morgantown, 1939), p. 23.
25 Niles, p. 12.
26 Child Dd.
27 Loraine Wyman and Howard Brockway, Twenty Kentucky Mountain Songs (Boston, 1920), p. 14; Flanders, loc. cit.
28 Child A, E.
29 Child Da.
30. Child C.
31 Child H.
32 Child C.
33 Child G.
34 Child Dh.
35 Niles, loc. cit.
36 Child C.
37 Hudson, Folksongs, p. 84.
38 Coffin, loc. cit. The typical stanzas (Child Dh):
Out of Fair Ellen there grew a red rose,
And out of Lord Thomas there grew a sweet-briar.
They grew so tall, they sprung so broad,
They grew to a steeple top;
Twelve o'clock every night
They grew to a true lover's knot.
39 Smith, loc. cit.
40 See Child C, E, F, G, H. C ends with trait H.
41 Child H.
42 Child E.
43. Stith Thompson, The Folktale (New York, 1951), p. 461.
44. For those interested in consulting the various sources utilized by Child, see Child III, 187 and the following pages for detailed bibliography.