The Two Sisters- Carrier (VA) 1913; Davis, Version E
[From Davis, Traditional Ballads From Virginia, 1929, version E. 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.
The Two Sisters- Mr. Harrison Carrier (Harrisonburg, VA; Rockingham County) 1913; Davis, Version E
1. There was an old woman lived on the sea shore,
Tra la la la la,
And daughters she had three or four;
And I'll be true to my love,
If my love will be true to me.
2 The youngest one had a lover true
But the oldest, she had none at all.
3 The lover he wore a beaver hat,
The oldest one, she mashed it flat.
4 "O sister, dear sister, let's walk the sea shore
And view the ships as they sail the sea o'er."
5 And as they walked along the sea's brim
The oldest pushed the youngest in.
6 "O sister, dear sister, give me your hand,
And You can have my house and land.
7 "O sister, dear sister, give me your glove,
And you shall have my own true love."
8 "I'll neither give you my hand nor glove,
For all I want is your own true love."
9 She bowed her head and away she swam;
She swam around to the miller's mill dam.
10 "O miller, dear miller, I have gold and gems,
Pray take me back to my home again."
11 The miller threw out his grab-hook
And brought her safely from the brook.
12 The miller took her gold and gems
And thrust her into the brook again.
13 She bowed her head and away she swam,
She swam to her eternal home.
14 The miller was hung on his mill gate
For drowning of this young girl Kate.