Old Woman of the North Countree- Pritt (VA) 1924 Version B
[From Davis, Traditional Ballads From Virginia, 1929, version B. Davis' note follow.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
THE TWA SISTERS
(Child, No. 10)
One might expect to find this ballad rather abundantly in Virginia, as Child reports it as one of the very few old ballads which are not extinct as tradition in the British Isles. The thirteen Virginia items are known variously as "The Two Sisters," "The Old Man of the North Countree," "Sister Kate," "The Miller and the Mayor's Daughter," ("I'll Be True to My Love," "The Three Sisters," and by other like titles.
All the Virginia variants, except the final fragment (K), belong with Child R and Y, and perhaps with the kindred fragments S and U between, as is shown by the refrain and the details of the story. The final fragment (K) is a different version: it has a refrain similar to Child G and J, but the drowned girl is a king's daughter, as in Child A. All of the Virginia texts are without that striking but rather gruesome detail found in more complete and uncorrupted form of the ballad - the use of some part of the body of the drowned girl to furnish a musical instrument which then makes known the murderer. The ballads that follow do not tell how the miller's guilt was discovered, but they state satisfyingly that he was hung at his mill gate. No punishment is mentioned for the elder sister. The miller is always the villain, never the innocent rescuer of the body as in Child A and R, etc.
For American texts, see Barry, No. J; Belden, No. 2 (fragment); Bulletin, Nos. 2-8, ; Campbell and Sharp, No. 4 (North Carolina, Virginia; cf. Sharp, Songs, II, No. a); Child, I, 137 (New York); II, 508 (New York); Cox, No. 3. p.521 (fragment and melody); Gray, P.75; Hudson, No. 3 (Mississippi);- Journal XVIII, 130(Barry, Rhode Island, text and melody, Maine); XIX, p. 233 (Belden, Kentucky, Missouri, fragment, reprinted from James Ashby's Missouri ballad-book); XXX, 286 (Kittredge- Missouri, Nebraska); Pound, Syllabus,p. 11 (fragment); Pound, Ballads, No. 4; Shearin, p. 11 Shearin and Combs, p. 7 (fragment). For additional references, see Journal, XXX, 286 and Cox, p. 20. It will be noted that Campbell and Sharp give three texts and three melodies from Virginia.
B. "The Old Woman of the North Countree." Collected by Mr. B. C. Moomaw, Jr., of Barber, Va. sung by Mr. Sam Pritt, Alleghany County. November 29, 1924. With music.
1. There was an old woman lived North Countree,
I'll sing to thee.
There was an old woman lived North Countree,
And she had daughters one, two, three.
I'll be true to my love and my love will be true to me.
2. There was a young man came courting there,
And he did love the youngest fair.
3. He gave the youngest a beaver hat
And the oldest sister she mashed it flat.
4. Said, "Sister, O sister, let's walk by the shore
And watch the ships as they sail o'er."
5. And so they walked by the salty brim
And the oldest pushed the youngest in.
6. "O sister, O sister, come reach me your hand
And you shall have my houses and land."
7. "No, I'll not reach you my hand nor my glove,
For you shan't have my own true love."
8. She bowed her head and she swam away;
She swam into the miller's bay.
9. The miller he took his old grab-hook,
And fished the girl out of the brook.
10. Said, "Miller, I'll give you these ten gold chains
To bring me to my home again."
11. The ten gold chains the miller took
And pushed the girl back in the brook.
12. They hanged the miller on yonder gate
For the murder of the sister Kate.