Sweet William Stepped Up- Presnell (NC) pre1958 Burton
[My date. From Some Ballad Folks, 1978 Burton. Hattie Hicks Prenell (1907-1996) recited this ball to Thomas Burton around 1970. She learned it from her husband, Dewey Presnell (1900-1959), who learned ballads from his family and neighbor in Watauga County, NC and from Ida McIntyre in Arkansas around 1920. Hattie is the daughter of Buna Presnell Hicks and Roby Monroe Hicks.
R. Matteson 2014]
Sweet William Stepped Up To the Old Man's Gate- Hattie Presnell
1. Sweet William stepped up to the old man's gate
And loudly he did say,
"Keep your oldest daughter at home;
I'm takin' the youngest away."
2. He mounted his snow-white ste'd;
Fair Ellen mounted the dapple gray.
He swung his bugle around his neck
And they went ridin' away.
3. They had not rode more than a mile or two
Till they both looked back;
They saw her father and seven of her brothers
Come ridin' over the slack.
4. "Get right down, Fair Ellen," he cried,
"And hold my milk-white ste'd.
I'll go fight your father and seven of your brothers
Or die of my own heart,s blood instead."
5. She got down without one word
And held his snow-white ste'd.
She saw her father and seven of her brothers
A-dyin' in their own hearts' blood instead.
6. "Slack your hand, Sweet Willie," she cried,
"Your wounds are deep and sore.
Slack your hand, Sweet Willie," she cried,
"A father I have no more."
7. "If you don't like what I have done,
If you go love some other one,
I wish you was at home in your mother's chamber
And I was in some house or room."
8. They rode up to his father's gate;
He clanged ag'in' the bell.
"Oh, Father, oh, Mother, sleep, awake.
Arise and let us in."
9. Sweet William died like it was today,
Fair Ellen died tomorrow.
Sweet Willie died of the wounds received,
Fair Ellen died of sorrow.
10. They buried Sweet William in his father's yard
And Fair Ellen by his side.
If they had lived till the next day
Fair Ellen would have been his bride.