Hi,

Baring Gould sent a fragment of "Fine Flowers" to Child (SBG/5 Harvard / Child book: Ballads and Songs Collected by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, chiefly in Devonshire, and sent by him to Prof. F.J. Child (now in Harvard) Feb. 26, 1892). There's some info below, some of which I've taken from the DT. The original letter is here, Sabine Baring-Gould Manuscript Collection (SBG/5/64): https://www.vwml.org/search?q=RN26%20baring-gould&is=1 My transcription follows:

[The flowers that were in the valley]

1. There was a woman and she was a widow
The flowers that bloom in the valley
A daughter she had as the Elan tree,
O the red, the green and the yellow,
The harp, the lute, the fife the flute and the cymbal
Sweet was this treble violin
The flowers that bloom in the valley.

2. There comes a knight all clothed in red,
The flowers that bloom in the valley
O and will you be my bride,
& etc.

3. There comes a second all clothed in green,
The flowers that bloom in the valley,
And he said, Fair maid will you be my queen,
& etc

The first stanza was noted by Frederick William Bussell and Sabine Baring Gould from Mary Gilbert and her brother William, both of the Falcon Inn, about 1880.

William Gilbert's verse appears in Cecil Sharp's MSS, and is also quoted by Bronson (vol.I p.190, 11:9):

There was a widow all forlorn
Nine brave boys of her body were borne [sic]
Flowers that were in the Valley
The harp the lute the fife the flute & the cymbal
Sweet goes the treble violin
Flowers that were in the Valley.

The other stanzas that Baring-Gould sent to Child were quoted in Bronson: Baring Gould, "I have had what is clearly the same melody with the same burden of The Flowers in the Valley and the enumeration of the instruments in connection with the Three Knights". It is described as "Sung by Mr. Old, at the same time as the other variant".

There was a Knight all clothed in red
The flowers that were in the valley
O and wilt thou be my bride? he said
O the red, the green and the yellow.
The harp, the lute, &c.

There came a second all clothed in green
The flowers that were in the valley.
And he said, My Fair, wilt thou be my queen"
O the red, the green and the yellow.
The harp, the lute, &c.

There came a third, in yellow was he
The flowers that were in the valley,
And he said, My bride for sure thoul't be,
O the red, the green and the yellow.
The harp, the lute, &c.

* * * *

Baring Gould published a reworked version in "A Garland of Country Song":

O there was a woman and she was a widow
Fair are the flowers in the valley
With a daughter as fair as a fresh sunny meadow
The Red, the Green and the Yellow
The Harp - The Lute - The Pipe, the Flute, the Cymbal,
Sweet goes the treble violin
The maid so rare, and the flowers so fair
Together they grew in the Valley

There came a Knight all clothed in red
Fair are the flowers in the valley
"I would thou wert my bride", he said,
The Red, the Green and the Yellow
The Harp - The Lute - The Pipe, the Flute, the Cymbal,
Sweet goes the treble violin
"I would", she sighed, "ne'er wins a bride!"
Fair are the flowers in the valley.

There came a Knight all clothed in green
Fair are the flowers in the valley
"This maid so sweet might be my queen",
The Red, the Green and the Yellow
The Harp - The Lute - The Pipe, the Flute, the Cymbal,
Sweet goes the treble violin
"Might be", sighed she, "will ne'er win me!"
Fair are the flowers in the valley.

There came a Knight in yellow was he
Fair are the flowers in the valley
"My bride, my queen, thou must with me!,
The Red, the Green and the Yellow
The Harp - The Lute - The Pipe, the Flute, the Cymbal,
Sweet goes the treble violin
With blushes red, "I come", she said
"Farewell to the flowers in the valley."

Source: A Garland of Country Song, ISBN 1-86143 071 X

Notes: Collected by S Baring-Gould from Mr Gilbert, The Falcon Inn, Mawgan, Pydar, Cornwall, about 1880.

Baring-Gould wrote:

    This exquisite melody along with fragments only of the words were obtained from Mr Gilbert, the Falcon Inn, Mawgan in Pydar, Cornwall, as he recalled having heard it sung by Thomas Williams, a man of ninety, who died in 1881. His words, however, were relative to nine sons of the widow -

    Three of them were seamen so brave,
    Three of them were soldiers so bold,
    Three of them - [rest forgotten]

    Then the last verse was "There was an end of the nine brave boys." We have striven in vain to recover this ballad.

    However, as I have had what is clearly the same melody with the same burden of "The Fowers in the Valley" and the enumeration of the instruments in connection with the "Three Knights, the Red, the Green and the Yellow" we have used these words.

* * * *

Richie