The Twa Sisters- Clark, (NC) 1929; Mellinger Henry Version A
From: Still More Ballads and Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands by Mellinger E. Henry
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 45, No. 175 (Jan. - Mar., 1932), pp. 1-176
I. THE TWA SISTERS. Child, No. 10
A. Recorded by Mrs. Henry from the singing of Miss Cora Clark, Crossnore, Avery County, North Carolina, July 12, 1929. Campbell and Sharp (No. 4) quote four versions, one from North Carolina and three from Virginia. Pound (No. 4) gives the N. C. version from Campbell and Sharp and a Missouri version imported from Kentucky from H. M. Belden's "Old Country Ballads in Missouri", Journal of American Folk-Lore, XIX, p. 233. See also Sharp: Folk-Songs of English Origin, 2nd series, pp. 18-21; Cox, No. 3; Gray, p. 75; Hudson, No. 3; Journal, XVIII, 130; Kittridge, Journal, XXX, 286; Cox, The School Journal and Educator (West Virginia), 1916, XLIV, 428, 441 -442. Davis, Traditional Ballads of Virginia, No. 5 (eleven versions); Shearin and Combs, p. 7; Pound, Syllabus, p. 11; Barry-Eckstorm-Smyth, British Ballads from Maine, p. 40; Belden, No. 2; Barry, No. 3; R. W. Gordon; New York Times Magazine, Oct. 9, 1927, p. Io. Add Barry, Journal, XVIII, 130-132 (two texts: A with air, B reprinted in Barry-Eckstorm- Smyth, 40-41; Gray, 75); Sharp MSS., Harvard University Library: several texts with airs, collected in the Southern Highlands. The present text with the exception of a few verbal differences is close to that in James Watt Raine's The Land of the Saddle Bags, Richmond, 1924, p.118, which is the same as that of Richardson and Speath's American Mountain Songs, New York, 1927, p. 27, though no mention is there made of the source. Prof. Raine says of this ballad (p. 117): "Many of the ballads have a refrain in which all the auditors may join. Sometimes the refrain has no connection with the story, as in the short lines of 'The Two Sisters'. 'Bowee Down!' and 'Bow and balance to me!' are a remnant from an old dance jingle, which was occasionally sung by dancers even after the music was furnished by the fiddle. 'Bowee' was originally 'Bow ye' but it has dropped the 'y' and become 'bowee', as is common inScottish familiar speech. The triple repetition of the first line in every stanza is a frequent characteristic of ballads, - it gives intensity to the tale."
In connection with B and C, both from Mrs. Harmon, it will be interesting to note Mr. Phillips Barry's remarks, quoted in the headnote of No. 5 of this collection, from the Bulletin of the Folk-Song Society of the Northeast, No. 2, p. 6, that C on the authority of Child is more nearly complete in its theme than A and B of this group. He says: "According to all complete and uncorrupted forms of the ballad, either some part of the body of the drowned girl is taken to furnish a musical instrument, a harp or a viol, or the instrument is wholly made from the body" (English and Scottish Popular Ballads, edited by Helen Child Sargent and George Lyman Kittredge; Cambridge, 1904, p. 18).
THE TWA SISTERS; Version A- Recorded by Mrs. Henry from the singing of Miss Cora Clark, Crossnore, Avery County, North Carolina, July 12, 1929.
1. There lived an old lord by the Northern Sea,
Bow'e down!
There lived an old lord by the Northern Sea,
Bow and balance to me!
There lived an old lord by the Northern Sea
And he had daughters, one, two, three.
I'll be true to my love,
If my love will be true to me.
2. A young man came a-courtin' there,
Bow'e down!
A young man came a-courtin' there,
Bow and balance to me!
A young man came a-courtin' there
And fell in love with the youngest fair.
I'll be true to my love,
If my love will be true to me.
3. He bought the youngest a beaver hat,
Bow'e down!
He bought the youngest a beaver hat,
Bow and balance to me!
He bought the youngest a beaver hat;
The oldest sister didn't like that.
I'll be true to my love,
If my love will be true to me.
4. The sisters walked down to the river brim,
Bow'e down!
The sisters walked down to the river brim,
Bow and balance to me!
The sisters walked down to the river brim;
The oldest pushed the youngest in.
I'll be true to my love,
If my love will be true to me.
5. "Sister, O sister, lend me your hand,"
Bow'e down!
"Sister, O sister, lend me your hand,"
Bow and balance to me!
"Sister, 0 sister, lend me your hand;
I'll give to you my house and land."
I'll be true to my love,
If my love will be true to me.
6. She floated down to the miller's dam,
Bow'e down!
She floated down to the miller's dam,
Bow and balance to me!
She floated down to the miller's dam;
The miller pulled her safe to land.
I'll be true to my love,
If my love will be true to me.
7. From off her finger he took five gold rings,
Bow'e down!
From off her finger he took five gold rings,
Bow and balance to me!
From off her finger he took five gold rings
And then he threw her back in.
I'll be true to my love,
If my love will be true to me.
8. They hanged the miller on a gallows so high,
Bow'e down!
They hanged the miller on a gallows so high,
Bow and balance to me!
They hanged the miller on a gallows so high,
The oldest sister standing close by.
I'll be true to my love,
If my love will be true to me.