Sister Kate- Mrs. L. L. Arthur and Mrs Bob Stone (VA) 1914 Davis D
[From Davis, Traditional Ballads From Virginia, 1929, version D. Davis' note follow. An almost identical Virginia version was collected from Mrs. F. S. Smith in 1935- Wilkinson MSS., reprinted Bronson.]
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.
Sister Kate- Mrs. L. L. Arthur and Mrs Bob Stone (VA) 1914 Davis D
1. There was a Lord Mayor in our town,
Bow down
There was a Lord Mayor in our town,
Bow it's been to me [1]
There was a Lord Mayor in our town,
And he had daughters, one, two, three
Love will be true, true to my love,
Love will be true to you.
2. There was a young man went courting there,
And he did choose the youngest fair.
3. O sister, O sister, let's we walk out,
And view the ships all sailing about.
4. The oldest pushed the youngest in,
And down she sank and away she swam,
5. "O sister, O sister, Oh, loan me your hand,
And you may have my house and land.
6. "Sister, O sister, Oh, loan me your glove,
And you may have my own true love.
7. "I'll neither lend you hand or glove,
But I will have your own true love."
8. Down she sank and away she swam,
She swam into the miller's dam.
9. The miller came out with his fish hook,
To fish the fair maiden from the brook.
10. "O miller, O miller, Oh, loan me your hand,
And you may have my house and land."
11. "O miller, O miller, here's five gold rings,
If you will let me home again."
12. And off her fingers he taken her rings,
And into the brook he pushed her again.
13. The miller was hung at his own mill gate,
For drownding of my sister Kate.
1. cf. Cox variants, "Bow and bend to me" and "The bough has been to me," p 21-22.