The Lady of the North Country- Martin (Va) 1917 Davis Version H
[From Davis, Traditional Ballads From Virginia, 1929, version H. 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.
H. "The Lady of the North Country." Collected by Miss Roxie Martin and Mr. J. M. McManaway, Albemarle County, June 1, 1917. "A school girl wrote this as her father sung to her." If so, the original manuscript is an interesting commentary upon school-girl literacy.
1 There lived an old lady in the Northern Country,
Bow down,
There lived an old lady in the Northern Country,
The bow has been to me,
There lived an old lady in the Northern Country,
She had daughters one, two, three,
True to my love, my love be true to thee.
2 There came a young man a-courting there,
Bow down' there,
There came a young man a-courting there,
The bow has been to me,
I here came a young man a-courting there,
He made a choice of the youngest there,
True to my love, my love be true to thee.
3 He made her a present of a beaver's hat,
Bow down,
He made her a Present of a beaver's hat,
The bow has been to me,
He made her a Present of a beaver's hat,
The oldest thought a heap of that,
True to my love, my love be true to thee.
4 "O sister, O sister, just walk out,"
Bow down,
"O sister, O sister, just walk out,"
The bow has been to me,
"O sister, O sister, just walk out,
See those vessels a-sailing about."
True to my love, my love be true to thee.
5 The oldest one pushed the youngest in,
Bow down,
The oldest one pushed the youngest in,
The bow has been to me,
The oldest one pushed the youngest in,
She did struggle, she did swim,
True to my love, my love be true to thee.
6. "O sister, O sister, give me your hand,"
Bow down,
"O sister, O sister, give me your hand,"
The bow has been to me,
"O sister, O sister, give me your hand;
I will give you my house and land."
True to my love, my love be true to thee.
7. "I will not give to you my hand,
Bow down,
"I will not give to you my hand,"
The bow has been to me,
"I will not give to you my hand,
But I will marry that young man."
True to my love, my love be true to thee.
8. The millier[1] picked up his drab hook"[2]
Bow down,
The millier picked up his drab hook (fish hook),
The bow has been to me,
The millier picked up his drab hook,
And fished her out of the brook.
True to my love, my love be true to thee.
9 The millier got her golden ring,
Bow down,
The millier pushed her back,
The bow has been to me,
The millier was hung by his mill gate,
For drowning my poor Sister Kate.
True to my love, my love be true to thee.[3]
1. The spelling of the original copy is here preserved because it may represent the singer's actual pronunciation.
2. For grab hook.
3. Two stanzas have been compressed into one. Perhaps the singer got tired, perhaps he had always sung it that way.