Young Collins- Chapman (WV) 1975 Gainer
[No date given. From: Folk Songs from the West Virginia Hills, Gainer, 1975. Unfortunately none of Gainer's collection can be regarded as authentic for various reasons (see US versions, Child 87 Prince Robert, for example). His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
YOUNG COLLINS
(CHILD 85, "LADY ALICE")
The story is not quite clear as to the cause of the death of Young Collins, but Fair Elinor's washing of the white marble stone seems to be an omen. In stanza 5, Elinor kisses the lips of her dead lover, in spite of the fact that this means death for her, too. It was an ancient folk belief that if one kissed the lips of the dead, the living person would soon die. The lily growing out of Young Collins' breast and touching the breast of Fair Elinor is a symbol of the eternal power of love, with nature expressing a sympathy with the lovers. There are many instances of this "pathetic fallacy" in folk song and story.
Young Collins- Sung by B. B. Chapman, Webster County.
1 Young Collins rode out one evening,
While the trees and the flow'rs were in bloom,
And there he saw Fair Elinor,
A-washing a white marble stone.
2 "If I should die this very night,
Which I feel in my own heart I will,
Go bury me under the white marble stone
At the foot of Fair Elinor's green hill."
3 Fair Elinor sat in her own cottage door,
All dressed in her laces so fine;
'Twas there she saw a coffin go by,
As bright as her own eyes could shine.
4 "Whose coffin, whose coffin, whose coffin?" she cried,
"Whose coffin is this I see?"
" 'Tis young Johnnie Collins' clay cold corpse,
An old true lover of thine."
5 She ordered the coffin to be opened right there,
And they placed it on the ground,
And there she kissed his clay cold lips,
While the tears came trickling down.
6 "O lay him down, O lay him down,
Down on the grass so green.
For tomorrow when the sun goes down
Fair Elinor a corpse will be seen"'
7 They buried Fair Elinor in the east,
And Young Collins in the west,
And out of Collin's breast there grew a lily,
That touched Fair Elinor's breast.
8 And out of the north there blew a cold wind,
That split the lily in two.
A thing that never was seen before,
And never will be seen again.