ASC#2 - WE SING THE SONG
The old ballad is officially listed as Child #201, in case your wish to check out other versions.
It is titled: “The Twa Lassies”,or “Bessie Bell and Mary Gray”andit came to the Shenandoah Valley from Scotland by way of Ireland the early 1730's tells the story of two young girls who, to escape the ravages of the deadly plague sweeping their homeland in the year of 1645. The two girls placed themselves in voluntary quarentine near the crest of a large hill...a "'mountain"' in some tellings, where they build a hut in which to live.
Food was brought to them by a village lad who left the supplies nearby without contacting them in any way.
Most of the ballad has been los. .We have two fragments...the first verse and part of the concluding one.
You must translate rather freely for their version of our mutuaL language was somewhat different from our usage today.
“O Bessy Bell and Mary Gray!
They were twa bonnie lasses.
They biggit a bower on yon Burn-Brae,
And theekit it ower wi' rashes.
They theekit it ower wi' rashes green.
They happit it round wi' heather;
But the pest cam' frae the burrows-toun,
A slew them baith thegither.”
We have lost the melody to which the ballad was sung, of course, but fit one to it on your own and sing those words as best you can.word. They will begin to clarify themselves with familiarity. Bonnie becomes pretty;, biggit becomes built;...teekit become thicken or cover; rashes are rushes; happit equals some form of decorate and pest means pestilence. Borrows and towns are not unfamiliar ...the died both together. Let it all flow naturally and you will be ready for the final verse - the only other portion of the old song which has endured.
“They thought to lie in Methven Kirk,
Beside their gentle kin;
But they maun lie in Dronach Haugh,
And beak fornent the sin.
O Bessie Bell and May Gray!
They biggit a bower on yon BurnBrae,
An theekit it ower wi' rashes.
They theekit it ower wi”rashs green.
The happit ut riound wi' heather;
But the pest cam' frae the burrows- taun,
An' skew them baith thegither.”
Remember, this is the last verse of the old song. The girls, it seems, would have wanted to be buried in the area churchyard, but that was not to be. The strange line ”and beak fornent the sin.” seems to explain why hey were buried on the hillside where they died. I have yet to find anyone who can translate that line.
In time, we will look at the site and situation as it exists today. The two girls have not been forgotten. The twin hills at Staunton,Virginia are memorials and two identical hills exist in Tyrone County, Ireland - so named by Scot immigrants to Ireland before their passage to America. If you like, we will talk about them at another time.
A.L.M. August 5, 2003 [c542wds]
