Sweet William- Gibson (VA) 1931 Davis AA
[From: More Traditional Ballad of Viriginia 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.
AA. "Sweet William." Collected by Fred F. Knobloch, John Powell, Hilton Rufty, and A. K. Davis, Jr. Sung by Mrs. Martha Elizabeth Gibson, of Crozet, Va. Albemarle County. May 17, 1931. Tune noted by John Powell. The last two lines are repeated except in stanza eighteen. The words were not fitted to the tune at the time of collection, and the editor is unwilling to take any liberty with a John Powell musical transcription from live performance.
1 Sweet William arose one merry mornin',
He dressed hisself in blue,
"Tell on to me of the long, long love
Betwixt Lady Margaret and you."
2 "I knew nothin' o' Lady Margaret,
Nor she knew nothin' o' me.
Befo' de eight o'clock de morrow mornin'
Lady Margaret my bride shall see."
3 Lady Margaret was standin' at a fine dornin' window,
Combin' her long yellow hair.
Who should she spy but sweet William and his bride
Goin' through the new church yard.
4 Back she tossed her long yellow hair,
Down she tossed her comb and back she fell
From her fine dornin' window
And she never was no m0' seen there.
5 Day bein' gone an' night comin' on,
And most of them all were asleep,
Who should he spy but Lady Margaret's ghost
Standin' at his bed feet.
6 "How do you like your bed," says she,
"And how do you like your sheet ?
And how do you like your new wedded wife
Who lies in your arms asleep ?"
7 "Very well I like my bride," says he,
"And better I like my sheet,
Best of them all that gay lady
That stands at my bed feet."
8 The night bein' gone an' the day comin' on,
When the most of them all were awake,
Sweet William arosed, he was troubled in his mind,
From the dream that he dreampt last night.
9 "What's that, Sweet William ?" they replied,
"What's that I say unto you ?"
"I dreampt that my room floor was floating in swine
And my bedside covered with tears."
10 "Bad dream, Sweet William," thev replied,
"Bad dream, I say unto you,
For some of your nearest 'lations is dead.
Sweet William, you'd better go and see."
11 He call-ed up his new house maids,
One and two and three,
To ask the leave of his new wedded wife
Of Lady Margaret he could go and see.
12 He rode 'til he came to Lady Margaret's hall,
He knock-ed so loud at the ring.
None was so ready as Lady Margaret's brother
To rise and let him in.
13 "Is Lady Margaret in her kitchen ?" says he,
"Or is she in her hall,
Or is she in her high chamb-er,
Amongst those merrv maids all?"
14 "Lady Margaret's neither in her kitchen," says he,
"Nor neither in her hall.
Lady Margaret's in her coffin made out o' lead,
And her pale face turned to the wall."
15 "Pull down, pull them fine Hollan' sheets,
Was made o' the Hollan' so fine,
Let me git a kiss from her cold, cold lips,
Where often times has kissed mine."
16 Three times he kissed her lily-white breast,
Four times he kissed her chin,
Five times he kissed her cold, cold lips,
Which pleased his heart within.
17 Lady Margaret she died for love,
Sweet William died for sorrow.
Sweet William was buried under one willow tree,
And Lady Margaret under another.
18 From Lady Margaret's grave there sprang a red rose,
And from Sweet William's a briar.
O they grew till they came to the church tower
And they could not grew any higher.
There they tied in a true lover's knot,
And there they stayed forever.