The Seven Sleepers- Miss Martha M. Davis (VA) 1922 w/music ;
[From Traditional Ballads of Virginia Davis, 1929. Davis' notes follow. This version music. 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 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 7 Appendix for text]
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 pausing 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 tale, which, 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, 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- Sung by mrs. Rosie Morris of Elkton, Va., Rockingham Co. Virginia, on Aug. 30, 1922. Collected by Miss Martha M. Davis;
1. Get ye up, get ye up, ye seven sleepers,
Put on your armor so brave;
For it never shall be said that a daughter of mine,
Could stay with Sweet William all night."
2. He mounted her upon his milk-white steed,
And himself upon the dapple grey,
He drew his pistol all down by his side,
And away they went riding away.
3. "Get ye down get ye down, Lady Margot," he cried.,
And hold that steed for awhile;
Until I fight your seven brothers bold,
And your father you love so well."
4. She held, she held, she better had held,
And never delayed any time;
Until she saw her seven brothers fall,
And her father she loved so well.
5. "Stop your hand, stop your hand Sweet William," she cried.
"Stop your hand, stop your hand for a while;
It's many a sweetheart I could have had,
But a father I'll never have again."
6. He mounted her upon his milk-white steed,
And himself upon the dapple grey,
He drew his pistol all down by his side,
And he went bleeding away.
7. "You can choose me for to go,
[You can choose to go or to abide.]"[1]
"I'll go I'll go, Sweet William you know,
You've left me without any guide."
8. They rode, they rode, and better they rode,
And never delayed any time;
Until they came to her mother's stile,
And he went bleeding away.
9. "O mother, O mother, go make my bed
And make it both soft and wide,
And lay my lady down by my side
So I may rest for a while."
10. Sweet William he died before midnight,
Lady Margot died before day.
The mother died for loss of her son,
And eleven lives were lost for one.
1. Another Virgina version has "You can choose to go or to stay". 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). This stanza appears to be a dialogue with Lady Margot answering in line 3.