I didn't buy this album because subliminals at the Folk Legacy website brainwashed me into purchasing an album by an obscure Scots '70's folksinger, but because I liked Stan Rogers's ⁽²⁾ version of a song called "Witch of the Westmorelands" on his Between the Breaks...Live! album ⁽³⁾. The liner notes on Rogers's album credit the song to Fisher (who says he put it together out of borrowed elements) and mention that Rogers left out two verses. I've had the Rogers CD for a couple of years ago and became obsessed with the "Witch" to the point where I had to know if the missing two verses filled in any of the gaps in that narrative. (They didn't.)

But I digress.

Anyway, in and among the other pieces on the Fisher album is "The Cruel Brother", about which the liner notes state: "Learned from the singing of a fine young Aberdeenshire fiddler called Tam Spires. This version was collated for me by Duncan McLellan of Inverness. It is mainly from Child 11, version C, with additions from other versions."

The song, in its entirety, goes: (glosses are Fishers's, or possibly Child's, except for the first one which is mine. Italics are the chorus lines repeated for each verse.)

There were three sisters lived in a ha' [Hall]
Hech, hey and the lily gay,
By cam' a knicht and he woo'd them a'
And the rose is aye the redder aye.

And the first ane she was dressed in green
"Would ye fancy me and be my queen?"

And the second ane she was dressed in yellow
"Would ye fancy me and be my marrow?" [Mate]

And the third ane she was dressed in red,
"Would ye fancy me and be my bride?"

"Ye may seek me frae my father dear,
And frae my mither wha' did me bear.

"Ye may seek me frae my sister Anne,
And dinna forget my brither John."

And he socht her frae her father, the king,
And he socht her frae her mither the, queen.

And he socht her frae her sister Anne,
But forgot tae speir at her brither John. [Inquire of]

And her mither dressed her in her gown,
And her sister tied the flounces 'round.

Her father mounted her on her horse,
And her brither led her doon the close [courtyard]

And he's tae'en a knife baith land and sharp,
And he's pierced the bonnie bride through the heart.

"Oh, lead me, lead me up yon hill,
And there I'll sit and mak' my will."

"What will ye leave tae your faither dear?"
"The bonnie white steed that brocht me here."

"And what will ye leave tae your mither dear?"
"The bloody robes that I do wear."

And what will ye leave tae your sister Anne?"
"The gowden ring frae off my hand."

"And what will ye leave tae your brither John?"
"The gallows tree for tae hang him on."


(I'd apologize for any typos in the preceding, but you probably won't be able to tell them from the dialect anyway.)

This particular ballad comes complete with a catchy little tune which goes through one's head for days, which is especially distracting when coupled with incomplete recollection of the words. In an attempt to exorcise the tune, or at least give me something else to think about, I read the words provided in the liner notes. Unfortunately writing fiction for a living ⁽⁴⁾ has given me a passion for trying to make narratives make sense. (Especially difficult in Nebula voting season.) While Child Ballads have many charms; narrative consistency is not one of them. (Healing people with goldenrod is one of the charms. An amazing feat, considering all the stuff does for most people is set off their allergies.)

But I digress. (Again.)

The first thing I noticed is that the story starts out one place and goes another entirely. Since the first four verses appear to concern a knicht who consecutively courted and dumped a series of sisters until one of them wore a red dress, one would expect the ballad to be about jealousy. However, sister number three either was satisfactory or pointed out, as we don't discover for another two verses, that her father was a king (of what or where we never find out) and was going to get really ticked off if this knicht continued jerking his daughters around. (Ticking off a king is rarely a good idea in a Child Ballad.)

At this point the knicht is instructed to tell a number of people that he's planning to marry the Lady in Red. (Probably to stave off the period equivalent of a shotgun wedding). These are are the lady's parents, one of the lady's sisters (Anne, color preference unspecified), and especially the lady's brother John.

The knicht, being an idiot, or perhaps merely driven by the obscure death wish only found in characters in Child Ballads tells everybody except the all-important Brother John. Maybe John was out of town or consoling with his other two sisters about their lousy love life and the knicht- -for excellent reason--didn't wish to intrude. (No mention is made, of course, of the third sister, who I like to think of as Myrtle because it doesn't rhyme with anything in particular which would explain why she was left out.) ⁽⁵⁾

The ballad continues with the wedding preparations. I note that only one sister is mentioned again, probably Anne, unless the other one was doing the flouncing. ⁽⁶⁾ Daddy helps the new bride onto her horse and hands her over to the aforesaid brother John, who takes her into the courtyard and stabs her.

As was the medical practice of the time, the victim is questioned extensively about her will and allowed to die with no attempt to treat her with goldenrod or anything else.

And that's what passes for a plot in this narrative ballad.

Now, forgive me my skepticism, but it strikes me that murdering your sister over not being asked about her wedding plans ahead of time is a bit of an overreaction. Maybe he really hated the doublet she picked out for him, but frankly I think a temper tantrum or a condescending little speech from John heaping as much guilt as possible on the bride would have been more than adequate.

Besides, this is Scotland: a drunken argument at the wedding, followed by a brawl and a forty- seven year blood feud would have made sure everyone had a good time, while maintaining fine family, if not national, traditions.

Even if you assume someone else put John up to the murder the motives are still pretty flimsy. Daddy gets the horse back, but he gave it to her in the first place and no father has ever given a wedding he couldn't afford. ⁽⁷⁾ The victim's Mother seems to have come off the worst, inheriting only a bunch of stained, torn garments of value to no one for another 450 years until reconstructed, patterned and published by Janet Arnold.

Perhaps Myrtle put John up to murdering the bride out of unrequited love for the knicht (who I see as looking like Dirk the Dauntless from the old video game Dragon's Lair, vacuous expression and all.)

Or perhaps Anne put him up to it because she knew she was going to inherit the golden ring. ⁽⁸⁾

It occured to me--at about 4:30 AM after lying awake two nights with that tune going through my head over and over and over and over--that one could postulate that this is actually an historical piece and assume that the King is Henry II, and therefore the murderous brother is Prince--later King--John. After further consideration--and a lot more sleep--I have come to the conclusion that this is a really stupid theory.

Anyway, I've worried over this for a week now and having shown to my own satisfaction that the ballad simultaneously takes place in both Scotland and England and makes no sense, never did make sense and never could make sense I'm going to take two aspirin and lie down. You can do whatever you want.

² A slightly less obscure Canadian '80's folksinger who wrote, among other things "Barrett's Privateers". RET

³ I'm not alone. At one time a bunch of Stan Rogers's fans who were also SF writers each wrote stories for an anthology about "Witch of the Westmoorlands" which, alas, never materialized. RET

⁴ This is an example of an oxymoron. RET

⁵ Of course the ballad's author is of the opinion that "Anne" is a reasonable rhyme for "John", so I'm probably on the wrong track here. And I'm not even going to mention "Anne" and "hand". RET

⁶This is an example of the author having to strain for a joke. RET

⁷ This is an example of irony, or perhaps sarcasm. RET

⁸ Which probably means she got the knicht as well, thus causing a divorce 20 years later due to the fact that marrying your fiancee's sister was a big 'no-no' in period. RET