146
The Isle of St. Helena
In our collection there are four variants of a song describing the
state of Napoleon after his banishment to St. Helena. The song
has been often printed and is also frequently reported as traditional
song. See Kittredge's bibliographical note JAFL xxxv 359, and
Belden, BSM 146 (where the reference to BSSN is wrong; 198-9
should be 168-9). Chappell, FSRA 186-7, prints a text from
Charles Tillett, Wanchese, 1933-35, which is close to that recorded
by either Mr. or Mrs. Charles K. Tillett for Dr. Brown in 1922
but lacks the two lines in stanza 5 addressed to the parliament of
England.
'Napoleon.' With music. "Recorded as 'Napoleon' ... by Mr. or Mrs.
C. K. Tillett, Wanchese, 12/29/22. Most of Mrs. Tillett's contributions
were sung into the phonograph Dec. 29, 1922, and texts furnished later
either by Mrs. Tillett or by J. B. Midgett." See reference to Chappell,
above.
1 Bony he has gone from the wars of all fighting.
He has gone to the place where he never took delight in ;
And there he may set down and tell the sence^ he has seen
of,
For long he does mourn on the Isle of St. Helena.
2 Eloisa she mourns of her husband departing,
She dreams when she sleeps and she wakes broken-hearted ;
Not a friend to console her, even those who might be with
her,
For she mourns when she thinks of the Isle of St. Helena.
3 Now the rude rushing waves all around the shores are
washing,
And the great billows' heaves on the wild rocks are dashing.
He may look to the moon over the great mount Diana
With his eyes over the waves rolded around St. Helena.
4 Now no more in St. Cloud's he'll be seen in such splendor,
Or go on with his crowds like the great Alexander ;
* The Missouri text has here "scenes," which comes nearer to mak-
ing sense.
386 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE
For the great king of Rome and the prince of Gahanah^
Says they bring their father home from the Isle of St.
Helena.
5 Now, you parliaments of England and your Holy Elinance
To a prisoner of war you may now bid defiance ;
For his base intruding and his base misdemeanor
Has caused him to die on the Isle of St. Helena.
'Bone Part.' ' From Miss Fanny Grogan, Silverstone, Watauga county.
Not dated.
1 Bone's gone to the war in the battle he is fighting,
He has gone to a place where he never took no delight in.
Oh, there he may sit down and tell all that he has seen of
While for home he doth weep on the Isle of St. Tellena,
2 Louise she doth weep, for her husband hath departed.
She dreams when she sleeps, and she wakes all broken-
hearted.
Not a friend to console her, even those who might be with
her,
For she weeps when she thinks on the Isle of St. Tellena.
3 The rude, rushing waves all around the shores are washing,
And the great Bill of loo, and the wild rocks are bursting.
He may look to the moon of the great omount taenia,
With his eyes over the waves that around St. Tellena.
4 No more at church he'Jl be seen in such splendor,
Nor again with his crowd, not the great Alexander
'Napoleon Bonaparte.* Collected by L. W. Anderson from Alva Wise
of Nag's Head on the Banks. No date given.
1 Now Bony is gone from the wars of all fighting,
He's gone to a place where he never took delight in.
Oh, there he'll sit down to the scene where he's seen her,
While for Boney he doth warm on the Isle of St. Helena.
2 No more in St. Cloud's he'll be seen in such splendor.
Nor gone with his crowd like the great Alexandria ;
But the great king of Rome and the prince of Gay Hanna
They will bring their father home from the Isle of St.
Helena.
■ The Newfoundland text has here "prince of Guiana," but that does
not help much.
OLDER BALLADS MOSTLY BRITISH 387
3 The wife she doth mourn for her husband's departure,
She dreams while she sleeps and she wakes broken-hearted,
Not a soul to console her, even those who might have been
with her.
Oh, she mourns when she thinks of the Isle of St. Helena.
4 The rude rushing waves beat around St. Helena
'Bonapart's Retreat.' Collected by W. A. Abrams from Mrs. Ira Reese
of Mabel, Watauga county. No date given.
1 Bonapart he's gone from the wars of all fighting,
He's gone to the land where [he] doth take delighting.
No more in such clouds he'll be seen in such splendor
Nor going with his crowds and the great Alexander.
2 Louise doth weep for her husband departed,
She dreams when she sleeps and wakes broken-hearted.
There's no friend to contol her, not even those near her ;
The young king of Rob and the prince of Gemira
Say they will bring their father home from the Isles of Saint
Delina
'npWO groups of ballads — if so they may be called; they are
-^ sometimes merely monologues with little action indicated — are
placed here although some of them are very likely not older than the
nineteenth century and are not certainly British. They may be
and they may not be; their origin has not been made out. Some
of them, the editor thinks, are pretty surely of American manu-
facture. But they are given here because they are not demonstrably
American as are the songs and ballads given under that label later
in the present volume. One of these groups deals with the pathos
of children, especially orphans. Oldest and best known of these,
and indisputably English, is 'The Babes in the Wood'; others, not
improbably of American origin, are 'The Poor Little Sailor Boy,'
'The Orphan Girl, '"and 'The Blind Girl' — who dies when her father
takes a new wife. The other group is less definite in content, but
its members are held together by the fact that they are all. in one
way or another, tales of broken or disappointed love, of lovers
parting after a quarrel. The type song here is 'Fond Affection,'
which appears in a great variety of texts, stanzas taken up or
dropped or reordered until it is hard to say whether a given text
is a form of this song or should be entered separately. Others on
this theme are 'We Have Met and We Have Parted,' 'Broken Ties,'
'They Were Standing by the Window,' and some fifteen others.
It is a topic dear to the folk muse.
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146
The Isle of St. Helena
'Napoleon.' Sung by C. K. Tillett. Recorded at Wanchese, Roanoke Island,
December 29, 1922. The general melodic outline of the first six measures is
very similar to that of 146E. For a Danish version see CRS, Kit O, 16. For a
German version considerably different, cf. Historische V olkslieder der Zeit von
1756-1871 I, part 3, 143.
For melodic relationship cf. ***FSRA 186; **SharpK 11 245, No. 173, meas-
ures 1-4.
Scale: Mode III. Tonal Center: c. Structure: abb^ai (4,4,4,4). There is a
general similarity between b and a.
'Bone Part.' Sung by Miss Fannie Grogan. Recorded at Silverstone, Watauga
county ; no date given. The general melodic outline of the first six measures
is quite similar to that of 146A. Cf. WSSU 182 and SOCH 159 for texts.
For melodic relationship cf. **FSRA 186 ; SharpK 11 245, No. 173, measures
1-4, 7-8, and 14-16.
Scale: Hexachordal. Tonal Center: d. Structure: aba^b (4,4,4,4) = aa^ (8,8).
'Napoleon.' Sung by C. K. Tillett. Recorded at Wanchese, Roanoke Island,
December 29, 1929. Another title given is 'The Isle of Saint Helena.' This
song is totally different from his other versions, including that in FSRA.
Scale : Mixolydian, plagal, with alternating sharpened and natural seventh.
Tonal Center : d. Structure : aa^ba^ (4,4,4,4) = Reprisenbar.