21.

She sat her by the nut-browne bride, And her een they wer sae clear, Lord Thomas he clean forgat the bride, Whan Fair Annet drew near.

22.

He had a rose into his hand, He gae it kisses three, And reaching by the nut-browne bride, Laid it on Fair Annet's knee.

23.

Up than spak the nut-browne bride, She spak wi' meikle spite: 'And whair gat ye that rose-water, That does mak yee sae white?'

24.

'O I did get the rose-water Whair ye wull neir get nane, For I did get that very rose-water Into my mither's wame.'

25.

The bride she drew a long bodkin Frae out her gay head-gear, And strake Fair Annet unto the heart, That word spak nevir mair.

26.

Lord Thomas he saw Fair Annet wex pale, And marvelit what mote bee; But whan he saw her dear heart's blude, A' wood-wroth wexed hee.

27.

He drew his dagger, that was sae sharp, That was sae sharp and meet, And drave it into the nut-browne bride, That fell deid at his feit.

28.

'Now stay for me, dear Annet,' he sed, 'Now stay, my dear,' he cry'd; Then strake the dagger untill his heart, And fell deid by her side.

29.

Lord Thomas was buried without kirk-wa', Fair Annet within the quiere, And o' the tane thair grew a birk, The other a bonny briere.

30.

And ay they grew, and ay they threw, As they wad faine be neare; And by this ye may ken right weil They were twa luvers deare.

[Annotations: 4.1: 'rede,' advise.

4.3: 'nut-browne' here = dusky, not fair; cp.:-- 'In the old age black was not counted fair.'

--Shakespeare, _Sonnet_ CXXVII.

8.4: 'fadge,' _lit._ a thick cake; here figuratively for the thick-set 'nut-browne bride.'

17.3: 'yae tift,' [at] every puff.

19.2: 'stean,' stone.

19.3: 'cleading,' clothing.

19.4: 'skinkled,' glittered.

24.3,4: _i.e._ I was born fair.

26.4: 'wood-wroth,' raging mad.

29, 30: This conclusion to a tragic tale of true-love is common to many ballads; see _Fair Margaret and Sweet William_ and especially _Lord Lovel_.

30.1: 'threw,' intertwined.]

THE BROWN GIRL

+The Text+ of this ballad was taken down before the end of the nineteenth century by the Rev. S. Baring Gould, from a blacksmith at Thrushleton, Devon.

+The Story+ is a simple little tale which recalls _Barbara Allen_, _Clerk Sanders_, _Lord Thomas and Fair Annet_, and others. I have placed it here for contrast, and in illustration of the disdain of 'brown'

maids.

THE BROWN GIRL

1.

'I am as brown as brown can be, And my eyes as black as sloe; I am as brisk as brisk can be, And wild as forest doe.

2.

'My love he was so high and proud, His fortune too so high, He for another fair pretty maid Me left and passed me by.

3.

'Me did he send a love-letter, He sent it from the town, Saying no more he loved me, For that I was so brown.

4.

'I sent his letter back again, Saying his love I valued not, Whether that he would fancy me, Whether that he would not.

5.

'When that six months were overpass'd, Were overpass'd and gone, Then did my lover, once so bold, Lie on his bed and groan.

6.

'When that six months were overpass'd, Were gone and overpass'd, O then my lover, once so bold, With love was sick at last.

7.

'First sent he for the doctor-man: "You, doctor, me must cure; The pains that now do torture me I can not long endure."

8.

'Next did he send from out the town, O next did send for me; He sent for me, the brown, brown girl Who once his wife should be.

9.

'O ne'er a bit the doctor-man His sufferings could relieve; O never an one but the brown, brown girl Who could his life reprieve.'

10.

Now you shall hear what love she had For this poor love-sick man, How all one day, a summer's day, She walked and never ran.

11.

When that she came to his bedside, Where he lay sick and weak, O then for laughing she could not stand Upright upon her feet.

12.

'You flouted me, you scouted me, And many another one, Now the reward is come at last, For all that you have done.'

13.

The rings she took from off her hands, The rings by two and three: 'O take, O take these golden rings, By them remember me.'

14.

She had a white wand in her hand, She strake him on the breast: 'My faith and troth I give back to thee, So may thy soul have rest.'