The Two Sisters- Muchler (Michigan) 1934 from Ballads and Songs of Michigan- Gardner A
[From: Ballads and Songs of Michigan by Emelyn Elizabeth Gardner and Geraldine Jencks Chickering; Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press; London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press: 1939. Gardner, Chickering notes follow.
Both the A and B versions from Ballads and Songs of Michigan are unusual for traditional US texts- the B version seems to be a play-party variant. The almost unreadable digital image of the music is included below because it is quite different than most standard versions.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
THE TWO SISTERS
(The Twa Sisters, Child, No. 10)
Child (I, 118-141) has twenty-one [actually 26- R. Matteson] versions of this old ballad, none of which ias lines very much like those in stanzas 4 and 8 and the refrain of Michigan A. The refrain most similar is in a version in Child's additions and cor--cctions (IV, 448); no similar one has been noted in American texts. Version B [see version B in this collection] appears to be a very defective and corrupt form of this old ballad. It is an excellent illustration of what may happen to a fine ballad during a long course of transmission. For additional versions, references, and discussion see Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, pp. 40-46; Bulletin, VI, 5-6; IX, 4-6; X, 10-11; and XI, 16-18; Cox, Dp. 20-22; Davis, pp. 93-104, Greenleaf and Mansfield, p 9; Henry, JAFL, XLV, 1-8; Kittredge, JAFL, XXX, 286-389; Scarborough, pp. 164-165; Sharp, U 2&S5; Stout, pp. 1-2; Archer Taylor, "English, Scottish, and American Versions of the 'Twa Sisters" JAFL, XLII, 238-246; and Thomas, pp. 70-73.
Two Sisters- Version A - sung by Mrs. Charles Muchler, Kalkaska, 1934.
1 Once there lived two sisters fair,
Viola and Vinola;
A young man came a-courting both,
Down by the waters rolling.
2 The eldest he loved most dearly,
But the youngest he intended for his bride.
3 The eldest he bought a fine gold chain;
The youngest he bought a guinea gold ring.
4 These two sisters went out for a walk;
Of the young man they did talk.
5 They wandered down to the river bank;
The elder pushed the younger in.
6 "Sister, sister, take my hand,
And you can have the young man and all of his command."
7 She floated down to the miller's brook;
The miller caught her with a hook.
8 They hanged the miller on a tree,
But the cruel sister she went free.