Hi,

Here's a version from Dorset that was collected in Boston. What I'm curious about are Barry's cryptic notes. This version was first published by Phillips Barry in his 1908 book, Folk Songs of the North Atlantic States. Also in The Ballad of the Cruel Brother by Phillips Barry; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 28, No. 109 (Jul. - Sep., 1915), pp. 300-301. What Barry doesn't say, and it's misleading, is, that the text was from E. S. Porter's MS which was borrowed from Mrs. Dorothy Fuller Irving of Sturminster, Dorset. The melody was noted from Rosalind Fuller of Dorset, in Boston, MA.

Barry: The texts hitherto known--excluding, of course, those obviously defective--agree, in that the bride is killed by her brother because his consent to the wedding has not been sought. In the present version the situation is unique, the brother acting as the agent of his wife's ill will. A motive for the curse in the final stanza is thus clear.

1. 'Three Ladies played at cup and ball, -
(With a hey! and my lily gay!)
Three Knights there came among them all.
(The rose it smells so sweetly!)

2. And one of them was dressed in green, -
He asked me to be his queen.

3. And one of them was dressed in yellow, -
He asked me to be his fellow.

4. And one of them was dressed in red,-
He asked me with him to wed.

5. "But you must ask my father the King,
And you must ask my mother the Queen, -

6. "And you must ask my sister Anne,
And you must ask my brother John."

7. "Oh, I have asked your father the King,
And I have asked your mother the Queen, -

8. "And I have asked your sister Anne,
And I have asked your brother John."

9. Her father led her down the stairs,
Her mother led her down the hall.

10. Her sister Anne led her down the walk,
Her brother John put her on her horse.

11. And as she stooped to give him a kiss,
He stuck a penknife into her breast.

12. "Ride up, ride up, my foremost man!
Methinks my lady looks pale and wan!"

13. "Oh what will you leave to your father the King?"
"The golden coach that I ride in."

14. "And what will you leave to your mother the Queen?"
"The golden chair that I sat in."

15. "And what will you leave to your sister Anne?"
"My silver brooch and golden fan."

16. "And what will you leave to your brother John?"
"A pair of gallows to hang him on."

17. "And what will you leave to your brother John's wife?"
"Grief and misfortune all her life."

* * * *

It seems that Barry is implying that stanza 17 reveals the animosity directed not only to Brother John but also his wife and in some versions this children. Why would she harbor hatred for his family on her deathbed? Suggestions on what Barry means?

Richie