Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Two Little Boys / Two School Boys / Two Brothers / Twa Brithers / Two Pretty Boys / Rolling of the Stones / Little Schoolboy / Jessel Town / The Twa Brothers (Child No. 49) (1982) - Sung by Belle Stewart (Isobella McGregor) of the Travelling Stewart family of Blair. Belle learned it from her brother, Donald MacGregor, and it has always been one of the most admired ballads of the Stewart family tradition. From the documentary "Gypsies Sing Long Ballads" (1982). Filmed and recorded by John Cohen in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland.
The complete movie can be watched here:
folkstreams.net/films/gypsies-sing-long-ballads
I extracted the songs and used my knowledge on video editing to share them on Youtube in the highest possible quality, I used manual video upscaling (no AI was used!) for this, to further document variants of traditional ballads and songs which has been my hobby for many years. I claim no ownership of the video, all the rights belong with John Cohen.
Note about the film:
Scotland’s Travellers have lived outside mainstream society for more than 500 years. Although some of the Travelling People still live by the sides of roads, most live today in houses and are under pressure to abandon their culture. This film celebrates their traditional music, especially the long unaccompanied ballads that date back hundreds of years and have been handed down by memory through the generations.
Note by Kevin W.:
I was delighted to discover this video documentation of Scotland's greatest tradition bearers. The often poorly treated Scottish Travellers honor the memories of their ancestors through songs, music and storytelling. They are proud of their culture and kept old traditions alive for hundreds of years. Many of our most gifted traditional singers and storytellers are Travellers.
Scottish Travellers are an indigenous ethnic minority in Scotland who live or traditionally lived a nomadic lifestyle and for centuries were unfairly shunned by the settled population. For that reason the singing culture of the Travelling people had not been well documented before the 20th century when non-Travellers with an interest in folklore visited and befriended Travellers and started recording their songs, music and stories.
Song transcription:
I was born in a very small tent which most of travelling people lived in at that time. They didn't live in houses at all then. My father just roamed about and my mother. And I was born in a small tent at a place called Kipeth, on the bank of the River Tay, on the way to Dunkeld. And I was the first girl born. Which of course my father was very, very happy about that morning. But my mother was very ill. They didn't have any medical attention at all then, none of the travelling people, in confinements or, anything else.
O two pretty boys were a-going to the school,
And one evening coming home;
Said William to John, "Can you throw a stone,
Or-a can you play at a ball, a ball,
Or-a can you play at a ball?"
Said William to John, "I cannot throw a stone,
Nor little can I play at a ball;
But if you come down to yon merry green woods
I'll try you a wrestling fall, fall,
I'll try you a wrestling fall."
So when they came to yon merry green wood,
Beneath the spreading moon;
The little-a penknife slipped out of William's pocket,
Which gave-a John his deadly wound, wound,
Which gave-a John his deadly wound.
"O you'll-a take off your white Holland shirt,
And you'll tear it from gore to gore;
And you shall bind my deadly wounds,
And-a they shall-a blood no more, no more,
And-a they shall-a blood no more."
O he took off his white Holland shirt,
And he tore it from gore to gore;
And he did-a bind his-a deadly wounds,
But they bled-a ten times more and more,
O, they bled-a ten times more.
"O what will I tell to your father dear,
This night when I go home?"
"You can tell him I'm away to a London school,
And the good scholar I'll-a come home, home,
And the good-a scholar I'll come home."
Two Little Boys / Two School Boys / Two Brothers / Twa Brithers / Two Pretty Boys / Rolling of the Stones / Little Schoolboy / Jessel Town / The Twa Brothers (Child No. 49) (1982) - Sung by Belle Stewart (Isobella McGregor) of the Travelling Stewart family of Blair. Belle learned it from her brother, Donald MacGregor, and it has always been one of the most admired ballads of the Stewart family tradition. From the documentary "Gypsies Sing Long Ballads" (1982). Filmed and recorded by John Cohen in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland.
The complete movie can be watched here:
folkstreams.net/films/gypsies-sing-long-ballads
I extracted the songs and used my knowledge on video editing to share them on Youtube in the highest possible quality, I used manual video upscaling (no AI was used!) for this, to further document variants of traditional ballads and songs which has been my hobby for many years. I claim no ownership of the video, all the rights belong with John Cohen.
Note about the film:
Scotland’s Travellers have lived outside mainstream society for more than 500 years. Although some of the Travelling People still live by the sides of roads, most live today in houses and are under pressure to abandon their culture. This film celebrates their traditional music, especially the long unaccompanied ballads that date back hundreds of years and have been handed down by memory through the generations.
Note by Kevin W.:
I was delighted to discover this video documentation of Scotland's greatest tradition bearers. The often poorly treated Scottish Travellers honor the memories of their ancestors through songs, music and storytelling. They are proud of their culture and kept old traditions alive for hundreds of years. Many of our most gifted traditional singers and storytellers are Travellers.
Scottish Travellers are an indigenous ethnic minority in Scotland who live or traditionally lived a nomadic lifestyle and for centuries were unfairly shunned by the settled population. For that reason the singing culture of the Travelling people had not been well documented before the 20th century when non-Travellers with an interest in folklore visited and befriended Travellers and started recording their songs, music and stories.
Song transcription:
I was born in a very small tent which most of travelling people lived in at that time. They didn't live in houses at all then. My father just roamed about and my mother. And I was born in a small tent at a place called Kipeth, on the bank of the River Tay, on the way to Dunkeld. And I was the first girl born. Which of course my father was very, very happy about that morning. But my mother was very ill. They didn't have any medical attention at all then, none of the travelling people, in confinements or, anything else.
O two pretty boys were a-going to the school,
And one evening coming home;
Said William to John, "Can you throw a stone,
Or-a can you play at a ball, a ball,
Or-a can you play at a ball?"
Said William to John, "I cannot throw a stone,
Nor little can I play at a ball;
But if you come down to yon merry green woods
I'll try you a wrestling fall, fall,
I'll try you a wrestling fall."
So when they came to yon merry green wood,
Beneath the spreading moon;
The little-a penknife slipped out of William's pocket,
Which gave-a John his deadly wound, wound,
Which gave-a John his deadly wound.
"O you'll-a take off your white Holland shirt,
And you'll tear it from gore to gore;
And you shall bind my deadly wounds,
And-a they shall-a blood no more, no more,
And-a they shall-a blood no more."
O he took off his white Holland shirt,
And he tore it from gore to gore;
And he did-a bind his-a deadly wounds,
But they bled-a ten times more and more,
O, they bled-a ten times more.
"O what will I tell to your father dear,
This night when I go home?"
"You can tell him I'm away to a London school,
And the good scholar I'll-a come home, home,
And the good-a scholar I'll come home."
