LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ELENDER

or THE BROWN GIRL



Lord Thomas was a gay forester

And the lodge-keeper of the king's deer

Fair Elender was as fair a woman

Lord Thomas he loved her well



"Come rail it over, dear mother," he said

"Come rail it over again

Whether I must marry fair Elender

Or bring the brown girl home"



"The brown girl she got houses and land

Fair Elender she got none

And therefore I charge you with my blessing

Go bring the brown girl home"



He went till he came to fair Elender's court

So loudly twirled at the pin

There was none so ready as fair Elender herself

To let Lord Thomas in



"What news, what news, Lord Thomas?" she said

"What news brings you today?"

"Bad news brings I, fair Elender," he says

"Bad news I bring to thee

I come to ask you to my wedding

And I think that is bad news for thee"



"Come rail it over, dear mother," she says

"Come rail it over again

If I must go to Lord Thomas's wedding

"Or if I must stay at home"



"Many may be your friends, daughter

But thousands are your foe

And therefore I charge you with my blessing

To Lord Thomas's wedding don't go"

"Yes, many may be my friends, mother

And thousands are my foes

But betide to my life, betide to my death,

To Lord Thomas's wedding I'll go"



She dressed herself in rich array

Her merry men all in green

And every town that they went through

They took her to be some queen



When she came to Lord Thomas's court

So loudly she twirled at the pin

There was none as ready as Lord Thomas himself

To let fair Elender in



He took her by the lily-white hand

And led her through the hall

He placed her in the noblest chair

Among the ladies all

"Is this your bride, Lord Thomas?" she said

"She looks most wonderful brown

You might have had as fair a woman

As every trod England's ground"



"Despise her not, fair Elender," he said

"Despise her not to me

Much better do I like your little finger

Than I do her whole body"



The brown girl had a little penknife

It was both long and sharp

Betwixt the long ribs and the short

She pierced fair Elender's heart



"Oh, what's the matter?" Lord Thomas said

"You look so pale and wan

You used to have so fair a color

As ever the sun shone on."

"Are you blind, Lord Thomas?" she said

"Or can't you very well see

And can't you see my own heart's blood

As it trickles down to my knee?"



Lord Thomas he has a sword by his side

It was both long and small

He cut the brown girl's head from her shoulders

And kicked it against the wall



He set the hilt against the ground

And the point against his heart

There was never three lovers that ever met

More sooner they did part



"Now dig me a grave," Lord Thomas, he said

"And dig it both wide and deep

And lay fair Elender by my side

And the brown girl at my feet"

__________

Child #73

from Elisabeth Bristol Greenleaf "Ballads and Sea Songs of

Newfoundland" with the incomplete penultimate verse put in from

Child. One version of this ballad gets around the color problem

(really complexion, not race) by capitalizing "Brown" thus making

it the girl's name.

@ballad @love @murder

filename[ BROWNGIR

SF

===DOCUMENT BOUNDARY