Sweet William- Akers (VA) 1907 Davis CC REC
[From: More Traditional Ballad of Virginia by Davis; 1960. An excerpt of is notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
Certain stanzas (1, 11, 12) vary from the normal stanzaic pattern, but have been left essentially undoctored, following manuscript. The excluded texts add little to the story, though each has its characteristic variants: in one the name of Sweet William is changed to William Hall, a corruption from a later well-known British broadside ballad; in another Lady Margaret becomes Liddy Margaret, and the following dialogue takes place between Sweet William and her brother:
"Good morning, good morning to you,
What makes you look so pale and blue?"
"I'm mourning the loss of my own dear sister
Who died for the love of you."
The relationship of the Virginia texts to the Child texts is complex and not very close. See the TBVa headnote, and add the information given above. Most of the Virginia texts conform to Coffin's Story Typ. A, but CC would seem to represent Story Type B. That the ballad is a rich repository of folklore material is obvious: the ghost, the portent dream, the appearance of blood, swine, and tears in dreams of ill omen, the sympathetic plants of the rose-and-brier ending. See Wimberly, passim.
CC. "Sweet William." Collected by Miss Mettie B. Akers, of Indian Valley, Va. Sung in her one-room school in 1907. Floyd County. September 19, 1932. For detailed comment upon this text, see the general headnote to this
ballad.
1. Sweet William rose one morning in May.
He dressed himself in blue.
His father's reply to him and asked of a long-long-love
That lies between Lady Margaret and you.
2 "It's I know nothing of Lady Margaret,
Nor she knows nothing of me,
But tomorrow by the eight o'clock
Lady Margaret my bride shall see."
3. Lady Margaret was in her grape-vine room,
Combing of her yellow hair,
Who could she see but Sweet William and his bride
A-walking down the street so fair.
4. She threw aside her wavy combs,
Folding back her yellow hair.
She fell out of her grape-vine room,
No longer could she stay there.
5 The day being spent and the night coming on,
Although they were asleep,
Who could he see but Lady's Margaret's ghost,
Standing over his bed feet.
6 "Sing how do you like your new coverlet,
It's how do you like your sheet?
It's how do you like your own brown girl
Who lies in your arms asleep?"
7 "Very well do I like my new coverlet,
Very well do I like my sheet,
But better do I like my own brown girl
Who lies in my arms asleep."
8 The night being spent and the day coming on,
Although they were awake
Sweet William called on his maiden-maiden-all,
If Lady Margaret he might go see.
9 "Such dreams, such dreams as I had last night,
I fear they will come true,
I dreamed that my vial was filled full of wine
And my bride's bed a-flowing with blood.
10 "Go saddle up my snow-white speed
Go saddle him up so fine,
, , ,
. . .
11. He rode and he rode till he came to Lady Margaret's door,
He rang the old door bell,
Who was so ready but her own dear brother
To rise and let him in.
12 "Where is Lady Margaret, oh where is she?
Is she in her grape-vine room, or is she in her hall?
Or is she in her grave
Among those million alls?"
13 "She's not in her grape-vine room,
She's not in her hall,
But she's in her own coffin
That sits against the wall."
14 "Go fold back those winding sheets,
Go fold them back so fine,
I want to kiss her cold, pale lips,
For I'm sure they will never kiss mine."
15 The first he kissed was her red, rosie cheeks,
The next was her cherry chin,
The next he kissed was her cold pale lips
That thrilled his heart with pain.
16 "What would you have at Lady Margaret's burial?"
"Nothing but bread and wine,
And tomorrow by the eight o'clock
You may have the same at mine."
17. Sweet William was buried in the old church yard,
Lady Margaret in their choir,
A rose sprang up from Sweet William's breast,
And from Lady Margaret's a briar.
18 They grew, they grew to the old church top,
They couldn't grow no higher,
They both fell down to the cold, clay ground
With the rose wrapped around the briar.[1]
1. A closely related fragmentary text from the same collector and county, but apparently not from the same singer has "William Hall" for "Sweet Wiliiam," "Ludy Marguerite" for "Lady Margaret" "wavery combs" for "wavy combs," "her own cold coffin" for "her own coffin." It is essentially the same version, but incomplete.