Child Ballads - Additions and Corrections

49. The Twa Brothers

I

P. 435, V, 217. Communicated by Mr. J.K. Hudson of Manchester. Sung after a St. George play regularly acted on All Souls' Day at a village a few miles from Chester, and written down for Mr. Hudson by one of the performers, a lad of sixteen. The play was introduced by a song called Souling (similar to a Stephening, see I, 234), and followed by two songs, of which this is the last, the whole dramatic company singing.

1	'And it's where hast thou been all this night long, my son? Come tell it unto me.' 'I have been lying on yonder bull-rushes, Which lies beneath yond tree.'
2	'And it's what are the spots on this thy coat, my son? Come tell it unto me.' 'They are the spots of my poor brother's blood, Which lies beneath yonder tree.'
3	'And it's what didst thou kill thy poor brother for, my son? Come tell it unto me.' 'Because he killed two pretty little birds, Which flew from tree to tree.'
4	'And it's what will the father say when he comes, my son? Come tell it unto me.' 'I will dress me up in sailor's clothes, And my face he will never see.'
5	'And it's what wilt thou do with thy pretty little wife, my son? Come tell it unto me.' 'I will dress her up in lad[d]ie's clothes, And she will sail along with me.'
6	'And it's what wilt thou do with thy children three, my son? Come tell it unto me.' 'I will leave them to my poor grandfather to rear, And comfort [to] him [to be].'
7	'And it's when shall we see thy face again, my son? Come tell it unto me.' 'When the sun and moon shines both at once, And that shall never be.'

P. 436 a, 3d paragraph. It ought to have been remarked that it was a William Somerville that killed John. The names being the same as in the ballad, "unusually gratuitous" is not warranted.

438. A was derived by Sharpe from Elizabeth Kerry. The original copy was not all written at one time, but may have been written by one person. The first and the last stanza, and some corrections, are in the same hand as a letter which accompanied the ballad. The paper has a watermark of 1817. A few trifling differences in the Manuscript may be noted:

1¹. twa.
1². school (Note. "I have heard it called the Chase"): the githar.
1⁴. afar.
2¹. wrestled.
4⁴. And.
5¹. brother.
6. both.
7², 8², 9². Should for Gin.
8¹. what shall.
10¹. But wanting.
10³. in fair Kirkland. (Letter. "I remembered a fair Kirk something, and Kirkland it must have been.")
10⁴. again wanting.

H

'Perthshire Tredgey.' From a copy formerly in the possession of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe. This fragment has some resemblances to F. "Copied 1823" is endorsed on the sheet (in the hand which made an insertion in st. 11) and crossed out.

1	Two pretty boys lived in the North, The went to the school so rare; The one unto the other said, We'll try some battle of war.
2	The worselaid up, the worselaid down, Till John lay on the ground; A pen-knife out of William's pocket Gave John a deadly wound.
3	'O is it for my gold?' he said, 'Or for my rich monie? Or is it for my land sa broad, That you have killed me?'
4	'It's neither for your gold,' he said, 'Or for your rich monie, But it is for your land sa broad That I have killed thee.'
5	'You'll take [me] up upon your back, Carry me to Wastlen kirk-yard; You'ill houk a hole large and deep, And lay my body there.
6	'You'll put a good stone ou my head, Another at my feet, A good green turf upon my breast, That the sounder I m[a]y sleep.
7	'And if my father chance to ask What's come of your brother John, . . . . . .
	* * *
8	8 'What blood is this upon your coat? I pray come tell to me;' 'It is the blood of my grey hound, It would not run for me.'
9	'The blood of your greyhound was near so red, I pray come tell to me;' 'It is the blood of my black horse, It would not hunt for me.'
10	'The blood of your black horse was near so red, I pray come tell to me;' 'It is the blood of my brother John, Since better canna be.'
11	He put his foot upon a ship, Saying, I am gane our the sea; 'O when will you come back again, I pray come tell to me.'
12	'When the sun and the moon passes over the broom, That ['s] the day you'll never see.'

2¹. worse laid, misheard for warseled.
3³. lands abroad for land sae broad (misheard).
4¹. After your, la and half of an n, lan caught from 3³.
4³. land abroad. The reciter, or more probably the transcriber, has become confirmed in the error made in 3³.
11³. come inserted in a different hand.
11^3,4 should probably be the first half of stanza 12.

This page most recently updated on 30-May-2011, 12:56:13.
Return to main index