"There Was an Old Woman Lived in the West" The Two Sisters- Mrs. A. W. Corn (Indiana) 1935; Version A (Ballads and Songs from Indiana)
[Abbreviated title, unfortunately this tile (given by Brewster in 1940) "There Was an Old Woman Lived in the West" is similarly found in other different ballads (or as Old Man Lived in the West). From: Traditional Ballads from Indiana by Paul G. Brewster; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 48, No. 190 (Oct. - Dec., 1935), pp. 295-317. Also in 1936 Brewster's 1940 book, Ballads and Songs of Indiana, "There Was an Old Woman Lived in the West," version A. In 1953 Brewster published The Two Sisters (Helsinki: Folklore Fellows Communications, volume 62, number 147).
Notes that follow are from Brewster: Ballads and Songs of Indiana.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
THE TWO SISTERS (Child, No. 10)
Brewster: Ballads and Songs of Indiana Notes
Three good texts and two fragments of this ballad have been recovered in this state. All of them belong with Child R*
For American texts, see Campbell and Sharp, No. 4; Cox, No. 3 (fragment); Gray, p. 75; Hudson, No. 3; Hudson, Folksongs, p. 68; Journal, XVIII, 130; XIX, 233; XXX, 286; XLIV, 295; Pound, Ballads, No. 4; Scarborough, Song Catcher, p. 164; Shearin, p. 4; Shearin and Combs, p. 7 (fragment); Thomas, p. 70; Smith and Rufty, p. 2; Greig, Last Leaves, pp. 9-13; BFSSNE, III, 21; VI, 5; VII, 14; IX, 4-6; X, 10; Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands, p. 38; Cox, Traditional Ballads, Mainly from West Virginia, pp. 6, 8; JFSS, I, 253; II, 283; Gordon, Folk-Songs of America, p. 65; PTFLS, X, 141; Stout, Folklore from Iowa (MAFLS, XXIX), p. 1; Botkin, The American Play-Party Song, pp. 338, 339; Neal, Brown County Songs and Ballads, No. 37; Randolph, Ozark Mountain Folks, p. 211.
The ballad is widespread in the Scandinavian countries, where it is known as "Systrarna," "Den talende Strsengeleg," "Dei tvo systar," "Den talende Harpe," "Den underbara harpan," "Systermordet," "Horpu-rima," etc. For Scandinavian versions, see Grundtvig, Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, II, 512-17; III, 875-78; Jyske Folkeminder, X (1889), 69-71, 375-78; Geijer and Afzelius, Svenska Folkvisor (ed. Bergstrom and Hoijer), I, 72; III, 16; Arwidsson, Svenska Fomsdnger, II, 139 f.; Skattegraveren, IV (1885), 161; Sandvik, 0. M., Folke-Musik i Gudbrandsdalen, pp. 102-3; Rancken, J. O., Ndgra prof af folksdng och saga i det svenska Osterbotten, pp. 10-12; Wigstrom, Skdnska Visor, Sagor och Sagner, p. 4; Andersson, Den Aldre Folkvisan (Finlands Svenska Folkdiktning, V1), pp. 75-86; Lindeman, Norske Fjeldmelodier, I, 9; II, 103.
The motif of a murder's being revealed through an inanimate object made from the corpse or associated with it, present in only three or four American texts of the ballad, appears frequently in the oral literature of many peoples. See, e.g., RTP, II, 125, 365 f.; IV, 463; V, 178; VI, 500; VII, 223; Archivio per lo studio delle trad, pop., Ill, 71; Romania, VI, 565; Gonzenbach, Sicilianische Marchen, No. 51; de Gubernatis, Le tradizioni popolari di S. Stefano, p. 154 f.; de Vasconcellos, Tradicoes populares de Portugal, p. 125 f.; Coelho, Contos populares de Brasil, p. 57 f.; Nigra, Canti del Piemonte, No. 19; Journal, IV, 267 ("La Stregha Chitarra"); (his Volksleven, II, 67; VII, 83; Monseur, Bulletin de Folklore Walien, I, 39 f.; Dykstra, Uit Frieslands Volksleven van vroegeren alter, II, 99; de Mont and de Cock, Vlaamsche Wondersprookjes, p. 195 f.; Melusine, I, 423; Doncieux, Romancero frangais, p. 36; Meyrac, Traditions, coutwmes, legendes et contes des Ardennes, p. 486 f.; Sebillot, Litterature orale de la Haute-Bretagne, pp. 220-26; Camoy, Litterature de la Picwdie, p. 236 f.; Grimm, No. 28; Zeitschrift fur deutsches Altertum, III, 35; Erk-Bohme, Aederhort, I, 26; Jahn, Volkssagen aus Pommern u. Rilgen, pp. 399-401; Schneller, Mdrchen zu Sagen aus Walschtirol, No. 51; Afanasjew (Afan-asiev), Russische Volksmdrchen, II, No. 137d; Sklarek, Ungarische Volksmdrchen, p. 195 f.; Woycicki, Polnische Volkslieder, p. 105; Naake, Slavonic Fairy Tales, p. 170 f.; Waldau, Bomische Granaten, II, 97; Rud-chenko, South Russian Popular Tales, I, Nos. 55, 56; II, No. 14; Nesselmann, Littauische Volkslieder, p. 320 (=Rhesa, Dainos, p. 231); Ulmann, Lettische Volksliede\r, p. 199; Lewestam, Polnische Volkslied, p. 105; Lagus, Nyldndska Folkvisor, I, 27; Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, I, 253; X, 68, 375; Land-stad, Norske Folkeviser, No. 53; Hammershaimb, Fssrtfsk Anthologi, No. 7; Studach, Schwedische Volksharfe, p. 78; Revue Celtique, II, 199.
For discussion of "The Two Sisters" and its ballad and prose analogues, see Taylor, "The English, Scottish, and American Versions of 'The Two Sisters/" in Journal, XLII (1929), 238-46; Mackensen, Der singende Knochen (FFC, 49); Ploix, "L'os qui chante," in RTP, VIII, 129-41; Kohler, Kleinere Schriften, I, 49, 54, and Aufsdtze ilber Mdrchen und Volkslieder, p. 79 f.; Bolte-Polfvka, Anmerkungen zu den Kinder- u. Hausmdrchen der Brilder Grimm, I, 260-76; Norlind, Studier i Svensk Folklore (Lunds Uni-versitet Arsskrift, NF Afd. 1, Bd. 7, Nr. 5), p. 139 f.; Hartland, The Legend of Perseus, I, 192 f.; Barry, "The Two Sisters: Prolegomena to a Critical Study," in BFSSNE, III, 11-14; and the study of Liestol in Maal og Minne (1909).
A. "There Was an Old Woman Lived in the West." (Child, No. 10)- Secured from Mrs. A. W. Corn, Winslow. Mrs. Corn learned it from the singing of her grandmother, Mrs. Asenath McDonald Barrett, in Pike County.
There was an old lady of the North Countree
And she had daughters two or three;
I'll be true, true to my love
If my love be true to me.
There was a young man came courting there,
And took the youngest of the three (maidens fair);
I'l1 be true, true to my love
If my love be true to me.
"Sister, O Sister, come let us walk out
And see the ships a-sailing about."
I'll be true, true to my love
If my love be true to me.
And they walked out on the salt sea brim,
And the oldest pushed the youngest one in;
I'll be true, true to my love
If my love be true to me.
Down she sank and away she swam;
First place she found herself was in the mill pond (dam?).
I'll be true, true to my love
If my love be true to me.
"Miller, O Miller, here comes a swan
Or a very nice damsel swimming along."
I'll be true, true to my love
If my love be true to me.
He went out with his fish hook
And caught the damsel in the brook.
I'll be true, true to my love
If my love be true to me.
"Miller, O Miller, here's five gold rings
If you'll return me home again."
I'll be true, true to my love
If my love be true to me.
The miller received the five gold rings,
And pushed her in the brook again.
I'll be true, true to my love
If my love be true to me.