18B. The Miller- Stalnaker (WV) 1925
18B - THE MILLER
(The Dishonest Miller)
Contributed by Mr. A. F. Goff, Gilmer County, June, 1925. Learned from H. C. Stainaker, who learned it in childhood from his mother.
(First stanza missing.)
The old man called up his eldest son!
"Son, O son my race is run,
Unto you the mill I'll give,
How much toll do you man for to take?"
Whack come a doodle and a hie ding day.
"Dad, O dad, my name is Jallon;
Out of a bushel, I'll take a gallon;
And if still my fortune I lack,
That's all the toll I mean for to take."
Whack come a doodle and a hie ding day.
The old man called up his second son:
"Son, O son, my race is run;
Unto you the mill I'll give,
How much toll do you mean for to take?"
Whack come a doodle and a hie ding day.
"Dad, 0 dad, my name is Hock;
Out of a bushel I'll take a Peck,
And if still my fortune I lack,
That's all the toll I mean for to take."
Whack come a doodle and a hie ding day.
The old man called up his third son:
"Son, 0 son, my race is run;
Unto you the mill I'll give,
How much toll do you mean for to take?"
Whack come a doodle and a hie ding day.
7. "Dad , O dad, my name is Shaff;
Cut of a bushel I''ll take half;
And if still my fortune I lack,
That's all the toll I mean for to take."
Whack come a doodle and a hie ding day.
8. The old man called up his youngest son:
"Son, 0 son, my race is run;
Unto you the mill I'll give,
How much toll do you mean for to take?"
Whack cone a doodle and a hie ding day.
9. "Dad, o dad, my name is Paul;
Out of a bushel I'll take it all;
And if still my fortune I lack,
If Il take it all and swoar to the sack."
Whack come a doodle and a hie ding day.
10. The old man laid back his head and died;
The old woman fell in his arms and cried;
The old man died and didn't make a will,
I'll be darned if the old woman didn't get the mill.
Whack com a doodle and a hie ding day.
Laws Q21. See NC II 440.