Cambric Shirt- Farmer (MA) pre1894 JAFL
From: American Versions of the Ballad of the Elfin Knight
from The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 7, No. 26 (Jul. - Sep., 1894), pp. 228-232
[I've added a title using the standard title- see second line. This article, not attributed, was surely written by the editor William Wells Newell (1839 - 1907), a folklorist and author of Games and Songs of American Children (1883, Mineola, N. Y.).
R. Matteson 2011]
B. Contributed by Mrs. Sarah Bridge Farmer, as learned from an elderly lady born in Beverly, Mass.:-
[Cambric Shirt]
Can't you show me the way to Cape Ann?
Parsley and sage, rosemary and thyme;
Remember me to a young woman that's there,
In token she's been a true lover of mine.
The requirements which follow are identical with those of the previous version. [I've added stanzas]
I want you to make me a cambric shirt,
Parsley and sage, rosemary and thyme;
Without any seam or needlework,
In token she's been a true lover of mine.
"I want you to wash it on yonder hill,
Parsley and sage, rosemary and thyme;
Where dew never was nor rain never fell,
In token she's been a true lover of mine.
"I want you to dry it on yonder thorn,
Parsley and sage, rosemary and thyme;
Where tree never blossomed since Adam was born,
In token she's been a true lover of mine.
"And since you have asked three questions of me,
Parsley and sage, rosemary and thyme;
And now I will ask as many of thee,
And then I shall be a true lover of thine.
"I want you to buy me an acre of land,
Parsley and sage, rosemary and thyme;
Between the salt sea and the sea sand,
And then I shall be a true lover of thine.
"I want you to plough it with an ox's horn,
Parsley and sage, rosemary and thyme;
And plant it all over with one kernel of corn,
And then I shall be a true lover of thine.
"I want you to hoe it with a peacock's feather,
Parsley and sage, rosemary and thyme;
And thrash it all out with the sting of an adder,
And then I will be a true lover of thine."
There is an additional stanza:-
And when he has done, and finished his work,
Parsley and sage, rosemary and thyme;
If he'll come unto me, he shall have his shirt,
And then he shall be a true lover of mine.
The reciter invariably added, with much glee:- I think she got even with him, my dear.