The Seven Sleepers- Harwell (Virginia) 1915; Davis A
[From Traditional Ballads of Virginia Davis, 1929. Davis' notes follow.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
EARL BRAND (CHILD, NO.7)
INSTEAD of the title "Earl Brand" or "The Douglas Tragedy," this ballad is known in Virginia as "The Seven Brothers," "The Seven Sleepers," "The Seven King's Sons," or "Lord William." All the Virginia variants seem to follow Sir Walter Scott's version, "The Douglas Tragedy" (Child B), more closely than any other. But they all lack the last three stanzas of Child B, about the plants springing from the graves of the dead lovers and intertwining above as a symbol that love has transcended death. This "rose-and-briar" ending is reserved in Virginia for "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet," "Fair Margaret and Sweet William," "Lord Lovel," and" Barbara Allen." The mathematical restraint of the usual Virginia ending,
Eleven lives lost for one,
recalls the concluding stanza of Child A,
This has not been the death o' ane,
But it's been that of fair seventeen.
But otherwise the kinship with Child B is much closer, though several of its stanzas are not found in the Virginia variants. The longest Virginia text shows twelve stanzas; Child B has twenty, or seventeen without the rose-and-briar ending.
Not as a version, but as an appendix to the ballad, is given an interesting modern piece retelling the story of "Earl Brand." It, too, comes from oral tradition in the Virginia mountains. [See 7A. The Lady and the Dragoon better known as the "Bold Soldier"]
Sir Walter Scott is authority for attaching the events of this ballad to a definite place. "The ballad of the 'Douglas Tragedy,'" he says, "is one of the few to which popular tradition has ascribed complete locality. The farm of Blackhouse, in Selkirkshire, is said to have been the scene of this melancholy event. There are the remains of a very ancient tower, adjacent to the farm-house, in a wild and solitary glen, upon a torrent named Douglas burn, which joins the Yarrow after passing a craggy rock called the Douglas craig. . . . From this ancient tower Lady Margaret is said to have been carried by her lover. Seven large stones, erected upon the neighboring heights of Blackhouse, are shown, as marking the spot where the seven brethren were slain; and the Douglas burn is averred to have been the stream at which the lovers stopped to drink so minute is tradition in ascertaining the scene of a tragical style, whlch, considering the rude state of former times, had probably foundation in some real event. See Child, I, 99.
For American texts, see Brown, p. 9 (North Carolina); Bulletin, Nos. 2, 4-6, 10; Campbell and Sharp No. 3 (North Carolina, Georgia); Cox, No.2; Hudson, No. 2 (Mississippi; Journal, XXVIII, 152 (Perrow, North Carolina); Mackenzie, p. 60; Mackenzie, Ballads; No.2; Shearin, p. 4; Shearin and Combs, P: 7. For additional references, see Cox, p. 18.
THE SEVEN SLEEPERS- Mr. G. L. Harwell, Greene Co,. Va; June 16, 1915 (Version A) from Traditional Ballads of Virginia
1. "Wake up, wake up, ye seven sleepers,
And be warriors with me,
To take care of your eldest sister dear;
For the youngest is going with me."
2. "Wake up, wake up, my seven sons bold,
And put on your armor so bright.
I will never have said that a daughter of mine,
Has lain with a lord all night."
3. He mounted her up on a milk-white steed,
And he on a dapple grey;
He drew his buckle down by his side,
And he went singing away.
4. He rode, he rode, he better better rode,
He was along with his lady so dear,
Until he saw her seven brothers bold
And her father she loved dear.
5. "Get you down, get you down, Lady Margret," he said,
"And hold my steed for awhile,
Until I fight your seven brothers bold
And your father you love so dear."
6. She held, she held, she better, better held;
She never shedded a tear,
Until she saw her seven brothers fall
And the father she loved so dear.
7. "Stop your hand, stop your hand, Lord William," she said,
"Oh, stop your hand for awhile;
Many a sweetheart I may have,
But a father I'll never have no more.'
8. "You may choose to go, Lady Margret," he said,
"You may choose to go or to stay." [1]
"I'll go, I'll go, Lord William," she said,
"For you have left me without a guide."
9. He mounted her up on her milk-white steed,
And he on his dapple grey;
He drew his buckle down by his side.
And he went bleeding away.
10. He rode, he rode,
He rode with his lady so dear.
Until he came to his own mother's stile,
Who he did love so dear.
11. "Mother, oh mother, make my bed,
And make it soft and wide,
That I may lie down and rest for awhile
With my lady by my side."
12. Lord William he died about midnight,
Lady Margret just before day;
The old woman died for the grief of her son,
So there was seven[2] lives lost.
1. The weakness of this line is the lack of rhyme so "You can choose to go or to abide," is a better solution (see Barry A).
2. Bad arithmetic. The number should be eleven, as in other variants.