The Two Sisters- Harmon (TN) 1930; Henry B
[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; Reprinted in his 1938 book, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands. Henry's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
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).
B. "The Two Sisters" Recorded by Mrs. Henry from the singing of Mrs. Samuel Harmon, Cade's Cove, Blount County, Tennessee, August 13, 1930, Version B.
1. Two little sisters loved one man,
Sing I dum, sing I dey;
Two little sisters loved one man;
The boys are bound for me.
Two little sisters loved one man;
Johnny loved the youngest the little the best, -
Says I'll be kind to my true-love,
If she'll be kind to me.
2. Johnny bought the youngest a beaver hat,
Sing I dum, sing I dey;
Johnny bought the youngest a beaver hat;
The boys are bound for me.
Johnny bought the youngest a beaver hat;
The oldest one thought hard of that, -
Says I'll be kind to my true-love,
If she'll be kind to me.
3. Johnny bought the youngest a gay, gold ring,
Sing I dum, sing I dey;
Johnny bought the youngest a gay, gold ring;
The boys are bound for me.
Johnny bought the youngest a gay, gold ring
And never bought the oldest a single thing, -
Says I'll be kind to my true-love,
If she'll be kind to me.
4. Two little sisters going down the stream,
Sing I dum, sing I dey;
Two little sisters going down the stream;
The boys are bound for me.
Two little sisters going down the stream;
The oldest pushed the youngest in, -
Says I'll be kind to my true-love,
If she'll be kind to me.
5. "Sister Martha, give me your hand,"
Sing I dum, sing I dey;
"Sister Martha, give me your hand;"
The boys are bound for me.
"Sister Martha, give me your hand;
You may have my house and land," -
Says I'll be kind to my true-love
If she'll be kind to me.
6. "Sister Martha, give me your glove,"
Sing I dum, sing I dey;
"Sister Martha, give me your glove;"
The boys are bound for me.
"Sister Martha, give me your glove
And you may have my own true-love,"
Says I'll be kind to my true-love
If she'll be kind to me.
7. "I'll neither give you my hand nor glove,"
Sing I dum, sing I dey;
"I'll neither give you my hand nor glove;"
The boys are bound for me.
"I'll neither give you my hand nor glove,
But I will have your house and love," -
Says I'll be kind to my true-love
If she'll be kind to me.
8. She floated down in the miller's dam,
Sing I dum, sing I dey;
She floated down in the miller's dam;
The boys are bound for me.
She floated down in the miller's dam;
The miller drawed her safe to land.
Says I'll be kind to my true-love
If she'll be kind to me.
9. The miller robbed her of her gold,
Sing I dum, sing I dey;
The miller robbed her of her gold;
The boys are bound for me.
The miller robbed her of her gold
But he plunged her into a deeper hole, -
Says I'll be kind to my true-love
If she'll be kind to me.
10. The miller was hung on a gallows so high,
Sing I dum, sing I dey;
The miller was hung on a gallows so high;
The boys are bound for me.
The miller was hung on a gallows so high;
Sister Martha burnt close by, -
Says I'll be kind to my true-love
If she'll be kind to me.