Ed de Moel

Child Ballads - Additions and Corrections

10. The Twa Sisters

P. 119 b. Färöe versions. Seven are now known, and one is printed, from the manuscript collection of Färöe ballads made by Svend Grundtvig and Jargen Bloch, in Hammershaimb, Fieresk Anthologi, No 7, p. 23, 'Harpu rima.'

124 b. Waldau, Böhmische Granaten, II, 97. R. Köhler. (I have never been able to get the second volume.)

125 a.

'Siffle, berger, de mon haleine!
Mon frère m'a tué sous les bois d'Altumène,
Pour la rose de ma mère, que j'avais trouvée,' etc.

Poésies pop. de la France, Manuscript, VI, 193 Its; popular in Champagne: Mélusine, I, col. 424.

125 b, second paragraph. (7), also in Rochholz, Schweizersagen aus dem Aargau, IT, 126, No 353. Add to stories of this group, 'La Flute,' Bladé, Contes pop. de la Gascogne, II, 100-102. G.L.K.

The last paragraph. De Gubernatis, Zoölogical Mythology, 1, 195, cites other similar stories: Afanasief, Skazki, v, 71, No 17, and two varieties, vi, 133, No 25; the twentieth story of Santo Stefano di Calcinaia, II, 325. G.L.K.


496 a. This copy of 'The Twa Sisters,' Z, a variety of R, was derived from ladies in New York, and by them from a cousin.

1   There was a man lived in the West,
      Sing bow down, bow down
There was a man lived in the West,
      The bow was bent to me
There was a man lived in the West,
He loved his youngest daughter best;
      So you be true to your own true-love
      And I'll be true to thee.
2   He gave the youngest a beaver hat;
The eldest she was mad at that.
3   He gave the youngest a gay gold ring;
The eldest she had nothing.
4   As they stood by the river's brim,
The eldest pushed the youngest in.
5   'Oh dear sister, hand me your hand,
And I'll give you my house and land.
6   'Oh dear sister, hand me your glove,
And you shall have my own true-love.'
7   First she sank and then she swam,
She swam into the miller's dam.
8   The miller, with his line and hook,
He caught her by the petticoat
9   He robbed her of her gay gold ring,
And then he threw her back again.
10   The miller, he was burnt in flame,
The eldest sister fared the same.

This page most recently updated on 21-Feb-2011, 14:15:26.
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