The Twa Brothers

[1] Two brothers are wrestling when a blade that one of them is carrying mortally wounds the other; occasionally, one of them stabs the other intentionally.

Attempts to staunch the blood are not successful, and the dying brother tells the living one (usually) how to bury him, and (always) a long list of excuses to give the rest of the family, about his traveling to distant locations, to avoid admitting his death, ending with the injunction to tell his true love the truth.

In others, the living brother is taxed with the blood—as in "Edward" and "Lizie Wan"—and attempts to tell false tales do not work.

[3] Many traditional recordings of the ballad were made in Scotland in the twentieth century, mostly from members of two particular traveller families.

Notable performers include Jeannie Robertson,[4] her daughter Lizzie Higgins[5] and nephew Stanley Robertson,[6] as well as Belle Stewart[7] (on the album O'er his grave the Grass Grew Green, 1988) and her daughter Sheila Stewart[8] (on The Muckle Sangs, 1975).