[R]. a. 'The Three Sisters,' Notes and Q., 1st S., VI, 102. b. 'Bodown,' communicated by J. F. Campbell, Esq. c. 'The Barkshire Tragedy,' The Scouring of the White Horse, p. 158.
[S]. Kinloch MSS, VI, 89.
[T]. 'Sister, dear Sister,' Allingham's Ballad Book, p. xxxiii.
[U]. From Long Island, N.Y., communicated by Mr W. W. Newell.
This is one of the very few old ballads which are not extinct as tradition in the British Isles. Even drawing-room versions are spoken of as current, "generally traced to some old nurse, who sang them to the young ladies."[126] It has been found in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and was very early in print. Dr Rimbault possessed and published a broadside of the date 1656[127] (A a), and the same copy is included in the miscellany called Wit Restor'd, 1658. Both of these name "Mr Smith" as the author; that is, Dr James Smith, a well-known writer of humorous verses, to whom the larger part of the pieces in Wit Restor'd has been attributed. If the ballad were ever in Smith's hands, he might possibly have inserted the three burlesque stanzas, 11-13; but similar verses are found in another copy (L a), and might easily be extemporized by any singer of sufficiently bad taste. Wit and Drollery, the edition of 1682, has an almost identical copy of the ballad, and this is repeated in Dryden's Miscellany, edition of 1716, Part III, p. 316. In 1781 Pinkerton inserted in his Tragic Ballads one with the title 'Binnorie,' purporting to be from Scottish tradition. Of twenty-eight couplets, barely seven are genuine. Scott printed in 1802 a copy (C) compounded from one "in Mrs Brown's MS." (B b) and a fragment of fourteen stanzas which had been transcribed from recitation by Miss Charlotte Brooke, adopting a burden found in neither.[128] Jamieson followed, four years after, with a tolerably faithful, though not, as he says, verbatim, publication of his copy of Mrs Brown's ballad, somewhat marred, too, by acknowledged interpolations. This text of Mrs Brown's is now correctly given, with the whole or fragments of eleven others, hitherto unpublished.
The ballad is as popular with the Scandinavians as with their Saxon cousins. Grundtvig, 'Den talende Strengeleg,' No 95, gives nine Danish versions and one stanza of a tenth; seven, A-E, in II, 507 ff, the remainder, H-K, in III, 875 ff. One more, L, is added by Kristensen, No 96, I, 253. Of these, only E had been previously printed. All are from tradition of this century.
There are two Icelandic versions, A from the 17th, B from the 19th, century, printed in Íslenzk Fornkvæði, No 13, 'Hörpu kvæði.'
Of twelve Norwegian versions, A, by Moe, "is printed in Norske Universitets og Skole-Annaler for 1850, p. 287," and in Moe's Samlede Skrifter, II, 118, 'Dæ bur ein Mann hær utmæ Aa;' B, by Lindeman, Annaler, as before, "p. 496," and in his Norske Fjeldmelodier, vol. I, Tekst-Bilag, p. 4, No 14, 'Dei tvæ Systa;' C, by Landstad, 'Dei tvo systar,' No 53, p. 480; D-L are described by Professor Bugge in Grundtvig, III, 877 f; M "is printed in Illustreret Nyhedsblads Nytaarsgave for 1860, p. 77, Christiania."
Four Färöe versions are known: A, 'Hörpuríma,' "in Svabo's MS., No 16, I, 291," incorrectly printed by Afzelius, I, 86, and accurately, from a copy furnished by Grundtvig, in Bergström's edition of Afzelius, II, 69; B, a compound of two versions taken down by Pastor Lyngbye and by Pastor Schröter, in Nyeste Skilderie af Kjøbenhavn, 1821, col. 997 ff; C, a transcript from recitation by Hammershaimb (Grundtvig); D, "in Fugloyjarbók, No 31."
Swedish versions are: A, 'Den underbara Harpan,' Afzelius, No 17, I, 81, new ed., No 16, 1, I, 72: B, 'De två Systrarne,' Afzelius, No 69, III, 16, new ed., No 16, 2, I, 74: C, D, E, unprinted copies in Cavallius and Stephens's collection: F, 'De två Systrarne,' Arwidsson, No 99, II, 139: G, 'Systermordet,' E. Wigström, Skånska Visor, p. 4, and the same, Folkdiktning, etc., No 7, p. 19: H, Rancken, Några Prof af Folksång, No 3, p. 10. Afzelius, moreover, gives variations from four other copies which he had collected, III, 20 ff, new ed., II, 74 ff; and Rancken from three others. Both of the editors of the new Afzelius have recently obtained excellent copies from singers. The ballad has also been found in Finnish, Bergström's Afzelius, II, 79.