Child Ballads - Additions and Corrections

10. The Twa Sisters

P. 119 a. Danish. 'De talende Strenge,' Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 68, 875, No 19, A-E.

119 b. Swedish. 'De två systrarna,' Lagus, Nyländska Folkvisor, I, 27, No 7, a, b; the latter imperfect.

124 b. Bohemian, Waldau, Böhmische Granaten, II, 97, No 137 (with the usual variations).

125 b, 493 b; II, 498 b; III, 499 a. Add: 'Les roseaux qui chantent,' Revue des Traditions Populaires, IV, 463, V, 178; 'La rose de Pimperlé,' Meyrac, Traditions, etc., des Ardennes, p. 486 ff.; 'L'os qui chante,' seven Walloon versions, E. Monseur, Bulletin de Folklore Wallon, I, 39 ff.

128. C. 'The Cruel Sister,' "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 16; communicated to Scott by Major Henry Hutton, Royal Artillery, December 24, 1802 (Letters, I, No 77), as recollected by his father "and the family."

1	There were twa sisters in a bowr, Binnorie, O Binnorie The eldest was black and the youngest fair. By the bonny milldams o Binnorie

After 13 (or as 14):

Your rosie cheeks and white hause-bane
Garrd me bide lang maiden at hame.

After 15:

The miller's daughter went out wi speed
To fetch some water to make her bread.

After 17:

	He coud not see her fingers sma, For the goud rings they glistend a'.
	He coud na see her yellow hair For pearlin and jewels that were so rare.
	And when he saw her white hause-bane Round it hung a gouden chain.
	He stretched her owt-our the bra And moane'd her wi mekle wa.

"Then, at the end, introduce the following" (which, however, are not traditional).

	The last tune the harp did sing, 'And yonder stands my false sister Alison.
	'O listen, listen, all my kin, 'T was she wha drownd me in the lin.'
	And when the harp this song had done It brast a' o pieces oer the stane.

"Alison. The writer of these additional stanzas understands the name was Alison, and not Helen." Alison occurs in D, K.

Pp. 183, 139. L. Anna Seward to Walter Scott, April 25-29, 1802: Letters addressed to Sir Walter Scott, I, No 54, Abbotsford. "The Binnorie of endless repetition has nothing truly pathetic, and the ludicrous use made of the drowned sister's body is well burlesqued in a ridiculous ballad, which I first heard sung, with farcial grimace, in my infancy [born 1747], thus:"

1	And O was it a pheasant cock, Or eke a pheasant hen? Or was it and a gay lady, Came swimming down the stream?
2	O it was not a pheasant cock, Or eke a pheasant hen, But it was and a gay lady, Came swimming down the stream.
3	And when she came to the mill-dam The miller he took her body, And with it he made him a fiddling thing, To make him sweet melody.
4	And what did he do with her fingers small? He made of them pegs to his vial.
5	And what did he do with her nose-ridge? Why to his fiddle he made it a bridge. Sing, the damnd mill-dam, O
6	And what did he do with her veins so blue? Why he made him strings his fiddle unto.
7	And what did he do with her two shins? Why to his vial they dancd Moll Sims.
8	And what did he do with her two sides? Why he made of them sides to his fiddle besides.
9	And what did he do with her great toes? Why what he did with them that nobody knows. Sing, O the damnd mill-dam, O

For 4, 5, 6, 7, see A 8, 9, 10, 13.

P. 137. Manuscript of Thomas Wilkie, p. 1, in "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 82; taken down "from a Miss Nancy Brockie, Bemerside." 1813.

1	There were twa sisters sat in a bower, By Nera and by Nora The youngest was the fairest flower. Of all the mill-dams of Bennora
2	It happened upon a bonnie summer's day By Nera and by Nora The eldest to the youngest did say: In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
3	'We must go and we shall go By Nera and by Nora To see our brother's ships come to land.' In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
4	'I winna go and I downa go, By Nera and by Nora For weeting the corks o my coal-black shoes.' In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
5	She set her foot into a rash-bush, By Nera and by Nora To see how tightly she was dressd. In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
6	But the youngest sat upon a stone, By Nera and by Nora But the eldest threw the youngest in. In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
7	'O sister, oh sister, come lend me your hand, By Nera and by Nora And draw my life into dry land!' In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
8	'You shall not have one bit o my hand; By Nera and by Nora Nor will I draw you to dry land.' In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
9	'O sister, O sister, come lend me your hand, By Nera and by Nora And you shall have Sir John and all his land.' In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
10	'You shall not have one bit o my hand, By Nera and by Nora And I'll have Sir John and all his land. In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
11	The miller's daughter, clad in red, By Nera and by Nora Came for some water to bake her bread. In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
12	'O father, O father, go fish your mill-dams, By Nera and by Nora For there either a swan or a drownd woman.' In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
13	You wad not have seen one bit o her waist, By Nera and by Nora The body was' swelld, and the stays strait laced. In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
14	You wad not have seen one bit o her neck, By Nera and by Nora The chains of gold they hang so thick. In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
15	He has taen a tait of her bonnie yellow hair, By Nera and by Nora He's tied it to his fiddle-strings there. In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
16	The verry first spring that that fiddle playd By Nera and by Nora Was, Blest be [the] queen, my mother! [it] has said. In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
17	The verry next spring that that fiddle playd By Nera and by Nora Was, Blest be Sir John, my own true-love! In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
18	The very next spring that that fiddle playd By Nera and by Nora Was, Burn my sister for her sins! In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora

4². Written at first my black heeld shoes.
12². swain.
17². thy own.

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