Have you encountered the "Two daughters and two sons" Legend?

Question

Some family legends repeat themselves.  In legends of American family origins there is the "Three brothers" legend that appears in many family narratives:  "Three brothers named [insert family name here] came by ship from the old country.  After arrival, one went north, one went south, and one went west.  The one who went [insert direction here] is our family's ancestor."

I've recently encountered another story that turns out not to match the available facts.  Purists might just call it an error or fraud, but to me it has the makings of a family legend.  Here is the "generic" version:

A medieval king sets forth to conquer the neighboring lands and encounters vigorous and skillful opposition from the two noble princes who rule those lands.  Realizing that he has no sons to leave his lands to, only two beautiful daughters, the king offers them in marriage to the sons of the two valiant princes who are fighting him.  The princes accept, the lands are joined in family harmony, and both royal family and populace live happily ever after,

I've encountered this legend -- a romance, really -- in the story of a Norman knight seeking to conquer some bits of southern Wales, and documented it in a free-space profile named Make Love Not War -- A Medieval Romance.

What makes it a legend is that it's been told for hundreds of years but when you actually dig for the facts, they turn out to be different.

But this does seem like the kind of tale that would be popular with troubadors entertaining noble courts in their Great Rooms on cold winter evenings, and the troubadors would supply local names..

So it seems like the kind of tale that would appear in more than one version, in more than one place.  So my question here is this:  Has anyone encountered another version of this romance, where the names and places are different, but the story is basically the same?

Answer 1

Yes and no, in the version I have seen for my DH's ancestors the three brothers went from Scotland to Ireland at the time of the Ulster Plantation in the 1600s.

They married into previously noble but no longer noble Irish families and etc, etc. Eventually one branch moved to Canada and others to the U.S. they did not all live happily ever after.

Comments

In real life, people often do not live happily ever after!  But have you encountered a fake version of the narrative in which they did?

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Hmm, in this case another version told by a distant relative has them being quite wealthy, and living in large homes in Tyrone, Ireland and in that person's opinion they were 'living happily ever after".

Maybe I'm too detail oriented, I looked up the land records, they were evicted for non-payment of rent.

I can easily see the appeal of the medieval king story.

Answer 2

In my family:

Three brothers did not go anywhere.  They married three girls, who also did not go anywhere.  The couples had children, who married each other - and did not go anywhere.  Their children married their cousins - and that, it is said, is the reason my family tree is endogamous.

Comments

Several generations of ancestors on my father's side were all farmers in upper Montgomery County, Maryland.  They all courted no farther than you could drive a horse and buggy on a Sunday afternoon!