Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Two Brothers / Twa Brithers / Two Pretty Boys / Rolling of the Stones / Little Schoolboy / Jessel Town / The Twa Brothers (Child No. 49) - Sung by Mr. Jim Wright of Kliny, Pendleton County, West Virginia, USA. Recorded by Prof. Louis Watson Chappell on July 31, 1940.
Link to original recording: https://folkmusic.lib.wvu.edu/catalog/Chappell_49_Wright_F_TwoBoys
00:00:00 The Two Brothers - Jim Wright
00:02:48 The Two Brothers - Scott Phillips
00:05:05 Elly Green Woods - Kate Toney
Note by Kevin W.:
This is an old version of The Twa Brothers (Child 49), it closely resembles Prof. Child's Version E, from "Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern" (1827) by William Motherwell: http://71.174.62.16/Demo/LongerHarvest?Text=Child_d04905
One of few texts collected in the 20th century with the full "What's the blood" Edward (Child 13) ending. Unfortunately the singer struggled to recall the ending stanzas, presumably at one point most of Child 13 was part of the song, as in the Motherwell text.
Lizzie Higgins of Aberdeen, Scotland, and her mother Jeannie Robertson, sang a similar version but without the Child 13 ending: youtu.be/vD9Ny98oPDQ
Song transcription:
Two brothers at the school one day
And when they started away
It's will you go to the stone chucking
Or it's will you go to the ball
Or it's will you go up yon green hill
And there we'll wrestle the fall
I neither will go to the stone chucking
Nor neither to the ball
But we will go up yon green hill
And there we'll wrestle the fall
They wrestled up, they wrestled down
Till John fell to the ground
A dirk did fall from Willie's pouch
And deadly wounded John
It's take me on your back, dear brother
And carry me to yon well fair
And wash my bloody wounds o'er and o'er
And then they'll bleed no more
He took his brother on his back
And carried him to yon well fair
He washed his bloody wounds o'er and o'er
And still they bled the more
He went home, and fell in his mother's arms too
And wept most bitterly
Oh, what blood's this upon your coat
Dear son, dear, tell to me
It is the blood from my grey steed
He would not ride for me
Oh son, oh son, it's this blood's not [of that]
It's the blood from my dear...
(corrects himself)
It aint the blood from your grey steed
That blood never was so dear
It's the blood from your dear brother
Oh son do tell to me
Oh son, oh what is this blood on your shirt
Oh son, do tell to me
It is the blood from my dear brother
A due 'tween I and he
She turned herself around and about
Her heart did burst in three
My best son is dead and gone
And the other I never shall see
The Two Brothers - Sung by Mr. Scott Phillips of Hundred, Wetzel County, West Virginia, USA. Recorded by Louis Watson Chappell on October 9/18, 1942.
Oh can you toss the ball
Or can you swing a bat
Go away, go away, the brother replied
For I'm too young for that
They wrastled up, they wrastled down
They wrastled all around
But the pretty little knife in William's pocket
Gave John his death-lie wound
What woundest me so sore, brother
What woundest me so sore
There never was a boy in all of days
That loved his brother more
It's take your own shirt off your back
And tear it from gore to gore
And place that on my bleeding wounds
And they will bleed no more
He took his own shirt off his back
And tore it from gore to gore
And placed that on his brother's wounds
But they still bled the more
It's take me on your back, brother
And carry me to [Chessel's Church] [*]
And dig for me a good-lie grave
A wide one and a deep
He took his brother on his back
And carried him to [Chessel's Church]
And dug for me a good-lie grave
A wide one and a deep
It's when that you go home brother
My mother will ask for me
Tell her I'm along with my schoolmates
I'll be home a Saturday
It's when that you go home brother
My father will ask for me
Tell him I'm along with my schoolmates
I'll be home a Saturday
It's when that you go home brother
My sweetheart will ask for me
Tell her I'm dead and in my grave
In [Chessel's Church] I lay
[*] I can't make out the place name. Texas Gladden of Virginia has "Jessel Town". Prof. Child's Version C has "Chester scule". That seems to be the closest match.
Elly Green Woods - Sung by Mrs. Catherine "Kate" Bell Toney (1874–1944) in Kitchen, Logan County, West Virginia, USA. She was born in Wayne County. Recorded by Prof. Louis Watson Chappell on August 9, 1940.
Oh can you throw a football
Or can you throw a stone
I am too little, I am too young
So brother let me alone
If mama should ask of me
Pray let the truth be known
It's tell her I'm in the Elly Green Woods
My lesson for to learn
If my true love asks of me
Pray let the truth be known
It's tell her I'm in the Elly Green Woods
My hounds all for to run
Oh brother, oh brother go dig my grave
Go dig it wide and deep
And bury three [drovers] at my head
My bible at my feet
My bow and arrow by my side
That I may sweetly sleep
Two Brothers / Twa Brithers / Two Pretty Boys / Rolling of the Stones / Little Schoolboy / Jessel Town / The Twa Brothers (Child No. 49) - Sung by Mr. Jim Wright of Kliny, Pendleton County, West Virginia, USA. Recorded by Prof. Louis Watson Chappell on July 31, 1940.
Link to original recording: https://folkmusic.lib.wvu.edu/catalog/Chappell_49_Wright_F_TwoBoys
00:00:00 The Two Brothers - Jim Wright
00:02:48 The Two Brothers - Scott Phillips
00:05:05 Elly Green Woods - Kate Toney
Note by Kevin W.:
This is an old version of The Twa Brothers (Child 49), it closely resembles Prof. Child's Version E, from "Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern" (1827) by William Motherwell: http://71.174.62.16/Demo/LongerHarvest?Text=Child_d04905
One of few texts collected in the 20th century with the full "What's the blood" Edward (Child 13) ending. Unfortunately the singer struggled to recall the ending stanzas, presumably at one point most of Child 13 was part of the song, as in the Motherwell text.
Lizzie Higgins of Aberdeen, Scotland, and her mother Jeannie Robertson, sang a similar version but without the Child 13 ending: youtu.be/vD9Ny98oPDQ
Song transcription:
Two brothers at the school one day
And when they started away
It's will you go to the stone chucking
Or it's will you go to the ball
Or it's will you go up yon green hill
And there we'll wrestle the fall
I neither will go to the stone chucking
Nor neither to the ball
But we will go up yon green hill
And there we'll wrestle the fall
They wrestled up, they wrestled down
Till John fell to the ground
A dirk did fall from Willie's pouch
And deadly wounded John
It's take me on your back, dear brother
And carry me to yon well fair
And wash my bloody wounds o'er and o'er
And then they'll bleed no more
He took his brother on his back
And carried him to yon well fair
He washed his bloody wounds o'er and o'er
And still they bled the more
He went home, and fell in his mother's arms too
And wept most bitterly
Oh, what blood's this upon your coat
Dear son, dear, tell to me
It is the blood from my grey steed
He would not ride for me
Oh son, oh son, it's this blood's not [of that]
It's the blood from my dear...
(corrects himself)
It aint the blood from your grey steed
That blood never was so dear
It's the blood from your dear brother
Oh son do tell to me
Oh son, oh what is this blood on your shirt
Oh son, do tell to me
It is the blood from my dear brother
A due 'tween I and he
She turned herself around and about
Her heart did burst in three
My best son is dead and gone
And the other I never shall see
The Two Brothers - Sung by Mr. Scott Phillips of Hundred, Wetzel County, West Virginia, USA. Recorded by Louis Watson Chappell on October 9/18, 1942.
Oh can you toss the ball
Or can you swing a bat
Go away, go away, the brother replied
For I'm too young for that
They wrastled up, they wrastled down
They wrastled all around
But the pretty little knife in William's pocket
Gave John his death-lie wound
What woundest me so sore, brother
What woundest me so sore
There never was a boy in all of days
That loved his brother more
It's take your own shirt off your back
And tear it from gore to gore
And place that on my bleeding wounds
And they will bleed no more
He took his own shirt off his back
And tore it from gore to gore
And placed that on his brother's wounds
But they still bled the more
It's take me on your back, brother
And carry me to [Chessel's Church] [*]
And dig for me a good-lie grave
A wide one and a deep
He took his brother on his back
And carried him to [Chessel's Church]
And dug for me a good-lie grave
A wide one and a deep
It's when that you go home brother
My mother will ask for me
Tell her I'm along with my schoolmates
I'll be home a Saturday
It's when that you go home brother
My father will ask for me
Tell him I'm along with my schoolmates
I'll be home a Saturday
It's when that you go home brother
My sweetheart will ask for me
Tell her I'm dead and in my grave
In [Chessel's Church] I lay
[*] I can't make out the place name. Texas Gladden of Virginia has "Jessel Town". Prof. Child's Version C has "Chester scule". That seems to be the closest match.
Elly Green Woods - Sung by Mrs. Catherine "Kate" Bell Toney (1874–1944) in Kitchen, Logan County, West Virginia, USA. She was born in Wayne County. Recorded by Prof. Louis Watson Chappell on August 9, 1940.
Oh can you throw a football
Or can you throw a stone
I am too little, I am too young
So brother let me alone
If mama should ask of me
Pray let the truth be known
It's tell her I'm in the Elly Green Woods
My lesson for to learn
If my true love asks of me
Pray let the truth be known
It's tell her I'm in the Elly Green Woods
My hounds all for to run
Oh brother, oh brother go dig my grave
Go dig it wide and deep
And bury three [drovers] at my head
My bible at my feet
My bow and arrow by my side
That I may sweetly sleep
