The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #150785   Message #3514946
Posted By: GUEST
14-May-13 - 09:30 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Lord Lovel (Child #75)
Subject: RE: Origins: Lord Lovel (Child #75)
And to this I must add this third version which mirrors the other two in form and content. This is a version that was given to Child by John Francis Campbell, taken down from the singing of an Englishman around 1850:

75E: Lord Lovel

'NOW fare ye well, Lady Oonzabel,
For I must needs be gone,
To visit the king of fair Scotland,
Oh I must be up and ride.'

So he called unto him his little foot-page,
To saddle his milk-white steed;
Hey down, hey down, hey derry, hey down,
How I wish my Lord Lovel good speed!

He had not been in fair Scotland,
Not passing half a year,
When a lover-like thought came into his head,
Lady Oonzabel he would go see her.

So he called unto him his little foot-page,
So saddle his milk-white steed;
Hey down, hey down, hey derry, hey down,
How I wish my Lord Lovel good speed.

He had not been in fair England,         
Not passing half a day,
When the bells of the high chappel did ring,
And they made a loud sassaray.

He asked of an old gentleman
Who was sitting there all alone,
Why the bells of the high chappel did ring,
And the ladies were making a moan.

Oh, the king's fair daughter is dead,' said he;
Her name's Lady Oonzabel;
And she died for the love of a courteous young knight,
And his name it is Lord Lovel.'         

He caused the bier to be set down,
The winding sheet undone,
And drawing forth his rapier bright,
Through his own true heart did it run.

Lady Oonzabel lies in the high chappel,
Lord Lovel he lies in the quier;
And out of the one there grew up a white rose,
And out of the other a brier.

And they grew, and they grew, to the high chappel top;
They could not well grow any higher;
And they twined into a true lover's knot,         
So in death they are joined together.

There are some significant differences in this version::

1.) Lord Lovel has a specific mission that involves the king of Scotland.

2.) Lord Lovel's manner of death is a dramatic suicide rather than implied lovesickness.

3.) A white rose springs from one of the graves rather than a rose (color and gender unspecified) springing from hers (mention of gender being a difference that seems to parallel the difference between Scottish and English versions of the rose-briar motif).

4.) The high chappel is not the high chancel. A high chappel is located in a tower whereas the high chancel is at the eastern end of the church where the high altar is situated

5.) There is no epilogue. The true lover's knot is the finale.