The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #37889   Message #530261
Posted By: CapriUni
17-Aug-01 - 01:36 PM
Thread Name: lyric discussion: Thomas The Rhymer
Subject: lyric discussion: 'Thomas The Rhymer'
I'm always fascinated by the different versions of a ballad's lyrics -- they are like different fragments of a picture, each drawn on translucent cels: superimpose them on top of each other, and you get a more detailed picture than you had when you only had one version. Recently, I've been studying different versions of THOMAS THE RHYMER aka TRUE THOMAS (Child Ballad #37). The most striking differences, to my mind, are in the verses relating to the apple tree that Thomas and the Queen of Elfland encounter:

Here are the three basic versions I've found, in the order that I found them:

Version 1:

Then they came to a garden green where wondrous fruits did grow.
True Thomas pulled a green apple among the branches low.
Oh, no True Thomas, she cried, I dare not give you leave.
For that is the fruit that caused the fall of Adam and of Eve

But pluck the fruit that grows so red upon the branches high.
And you shall have a goodly gift the tongue that never can lie.
When you have had your fill lay your head upon my knee.
Before we climb yon high, high hill, I will show you ferlies three

From the Digital Tradition database, file name TOMRHYM2 submitted by AS

[Note, Question and a Comment: DT is the only place where I've found this particular version. Does anyone have any more information on it? The two versions listed next, I've found in other places as well... It certainly is an interesting theological idea: that damnation comes from eating the of Tree of Knowledge when the fruit is *unripe* -- suggesting, perhaps, that Knowledge of Good and Evil must be paired with a mature heart or spirit ] ---

Version 2:

Then they came on to a garden green
And she pulled an apple frae a tree
Take this for thy wages, True Thomas
It will give the tongue that can never lie

From the Digital Tradition database, file name TOMRHYM submitted by SO F

[This is also (more or less) the version that I found when searching Bartleby.com's Verse archives (Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250?1900. It's credited to Anonymous, Seventeenth Century). No mention of any distinction between good and bad fruit, here, except that *she* is the one to choose the fruit, and presubably knows enough to pick the right kind)

---

And, lastly, Version 3, which I found at this website: http://www.stepchildcoven.org/thomas.html

O they rade on, and further on,
Until they came to a garden green;
'Light down, light down, you lady free,
Some of that fruit let me pull to thee.'

'O no, O no, True Thomas,' she says,
'That fruit must not be touched by thee,
For all the plagues that are in hell
Light on the fruit of this country.

'But I have a loaf here in my lap,
Likewise a bottle of claret wine,
And now ere we go farther on,
We'll rest a while, and you may dine.'

[Here, *all* the fruit of the tree is evil, though the image of the Queen of Elfland, with the bread and wine in her lap reminds me of images of Epona, the Gallo-Roman Horse Goddess, who was often shown riding a mare (aside) or on a throne with a cornucopia, bread or corn in her lap.... Epona was also said to hold the keys to the Otherworld]

I've only found one tune for this song, though that one tune doesn't fit all versions of the song, which I find just a tad frustrating. Are there other versions out there that folks sing? If so, do you just make up a whole new tune, or do you have a formula for adapting the one listed by Child?

Anyone care to discuss its metaphorical commentary on the bardic/rhymer/singer's way of life?

Excuse me... I'm just a lifelong English major (doesn''t matter that I left college *years* ago ;-), and I felt the need to burble for a bit...