And by this ye may ken right weil
They were twa luvers deare.
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;