9. Slack Your Rope- Caldwell (WV) 1928 (Child 95)
Communicated by Miss Elizabeth Aileen Hatfield, Logan, Logan County, January 18, 1928. Obtained from Miss Nell Caldwell. Music noted by Miss Hatfield.
[From: Traditional Ballads & Folk Songs Mainly from West Virginia- John Harrington Cox- 1939 Edited by George Herzog and Herbert Halpert 1939 and George Boswell, 1964.
R. Matteson 2014]
9. SLACK YOUR ROPE
(The Maid Freed From the Gallows, Child, No.95)
"Hangman, hangman, slack your rope,
Slack it for awhile;
Slack it till my mother comes,
She's coming a many a mile."
"O mother, O mother, did you bring me any gold,
For to pay my fine?
Or did you come to see me hung,
Hung down the gallows line?"
"O no, O no, I brought you no gold,
For to pay your fine;
I really come to see you hung,
Hung down the gallows line."
Repeat the triad, substituting for the word mother the words father, brother, sister and sweetheart
"O yes, O yes, I brought you some gold,
For to pay your fine;
I did not come to see you hung,
Hung down the gallows line.
See NC II L4.