Ballads and Songs
G. L. Kittredge
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 30, No. 117 (Jul. - Sep., 1917), pp. 283-369
[This excellent article sums up the Child ballads and other songs since and including ESPB. No yet edited sorry-- only some parts.]
THE JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.
VOL. XXX.-JULY-SEPTEMBER, 1917 - No. CXVII.
BALLADS AND SONGS
EDITED BY G. L. KITTREDGE.
THE thanks of the Society are due to the many contributors who have furnished material for this report and have allowed the editor to make such use of their collections as space permitted. Their names are duly mentioned in each instance.[1] Professor Belden has not only given free access to his store of texts, but has fortunately been at hand for consultation. Miss Loraine Wyman has been very generous with the songs and ballads recently collected by her in Kentucky, a part of which - but by no means all - may be found in the first volume of "Lonesome Tunes." [2]
THE ELFIN KNIGHT (Child, No. 2)
Child was the first scholar to print an American version from oral tradition (1883; I: 19 [J, from Massachusetts, 18281). Other American versions or variants have since appeared from time to time. See JAFL 7: 228-229 (from Massachusetts; reprinted in Child, 5: 284); 13: 120-122 (Georgia); 18:212-214 (Barry, Massachusetts and Rhode Island); 19: 130-131 (California); 23: 430-431 (Vermont); 26: 174-175 (Texas, from Ireland). B. L. Jones (p. 5) records two copies from Michigan, one beginning, -
"Where are you going?" "I'm going to Lynn." [3]
Let every rose grow merry in time.
See also Pound, pp. Io-II. Barry (in JAFL 18 : 214) called attention to the fact that the ballad was published in this country about 1844 in "Songs for the Million," and reprinted the text ("Love's Impossibility"). Later he found a remarkably full and interesting text in a broadside in the Harris collection (Brown University), --" Love Letter and Answer," "Hunts and Shaw, N. E. corner of Faneuil Hall Market, Boston." [4]This has twelve stanzas, and includes both Lynn and Cape Ann.[5]
A good version may be found in Walter Rye, "Songs, Stories, and Sayings of Norfolk" (1897), pp. 7-8. The ballad is well known in England as "Scarborough (Whittingham) Fair" (Child, 2:495-496; 4: 440; 5: 206; Baring-Gould, "A Book of English Nursery Songs and Rhymes," No. I, pp. 3-4; Sharp, " One Hundred English Folksongs," No. 74, PP. xxxvi-xxxvii, 167-169, with references). Compare Greig, " Folk-Song of the North-East," C; Joyce, " Old Irish Folk Music and Songs," No. 117, pp. 59-60.
[Strawberry Lane.]
Communicated in 1914 by Mr. E. Russell Davis, as remembered by his mother and himself from the singing of his grandfather, Mr. William Henry Banks (born 1834), a vessel-owner of Maine.
1. As I was a-walking up Strawberry Lane, -
Every rose grows merry and fine, -
I chanced'for to meet a pretty, fair maid,
Who wanted to be [6] a true-lover of mine.
2. "You'll have for to make me a cambric shirt, -
Every rose grows merry and fine, -
And every stitch must be finicle work,
Before you can be a true-lover of mine.
3. " You'll have for to wash it in a deep well, -
Every rose grows merry and fine, -
Where water never was nor rain ever fell,
Before you can be a true-lover of mine."
The man goes on to make several more conditions. Finally the girl turns on him thus: -
4. " Now, since you have been so hard with me, -
Every rose grows merry and fine, -
Perhaps I can be as hard with thee,
Before you can be a true-lover of mine.
5. "You'll have for to buy me an acre of ground, -
Every rose grows merry and fine, -
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Before you can be a true-lover of mine.
6. "You'll have for to plough it with a deer's horn, -
Every rose grows merry and fine, -
And plant it all over with one grain of corn,
Before you can be a true-lover of mine.
7. "You'll have for to thrash it in an eggshell, -
Every rose grows merry and fine, -
And bring it to market in a thimble, [7]
Before you can be a true-lover of mine."
THE FAUSE KNIGHT UPON THE ROAD (Child, No. 3)
The following delightful version was secured by Belden in 1916. It was sent to him by Miss J. D. Johns of St. Charles, Mo., who learned it from her uncle, Mr. Douglas Voss Martin. He learned it when a boy in Virginia from his grandmother, Mrs. Eleanor Voss, who was a Scotchwoman. Mr. Cecil J. Sharp has recently found the ballad in the South, but his version is very different from that of Miss Johns. Barry gives a fragment of one stanza from Maine (Irish in source) in JAFL 24: 344
The False Knight
1. "Where are you going?" said the false knight, false knight,
"Where are you going?" said the false knight Munro.
"Well," said the little boy, "I'm going to school,
But I'll stand to my book al-so."
2. "What you got in your basket?" said the false knight, false knight,
"What you got in your basket?" said the false knight Munro.
"Well," said the little boy, "my breakfast and my dinner,
But I'll stand to my book al-so."
3. "Give my dog some," said the false knight, false knight,
"Give my dog some," said the false knight Munro.
"Well," said the little boy, "I won't give him none,
But I'll stand to my book al-so."
4. "Then I'll pitch you in the well," said the false knight, false knight,
"Then I'll pitch you in the well," said the false knight Munro.
"Well," said the little boy, "I'll pitch you in first,
But I'll stand to my book al-so."
And he pitched him in the well and went on to school.
LADY ISABEL AND THE ELF-KNIGHT (Child, No. 4)
For a list of American variants, see Tolman and Kittredge in JAFL29: 156-157. Cox prints a West Virginia version in the "West Virginia School Journal and Educator" (44: 269), and reports others (45: 159; JAFL 29: 400). B. L. Jones reports three variants from Michigan and prints one stanza ("Folk-Lore in Michigan," p. 5)- C. Alphonso Smith reports the ballad from Tennessee ("Summer School News," I : I, No. 12, July 31, 1914, Summer School of the South). See also Child MSS., xxi, 4, articles 4 and 6 (Harvard College Library); Reed Smith (JAFL 28 : 200-202); F. C. Brown, p. 9; Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 2, p. 3; No. 3, p. 2; No. 4, P. 4. Miss Loraine Wyman and Mr. Brockway have printed a version from Kentucky ("Six King's Daughters," with music) in "Lonesome Tunes," I: 82-87. Professor Belden has collected nine variants.[8]
THE TWA SISTERS (Child, No. 10)
The first scholar to publish an American text of this ballad was Child, who printed, in 1883, as version U (I: 137), a fragment of four stanzas (with burden), communicated by Mr. W. W. Newell from the recitation of an old woman who had learned the song in Long Island, N.Y. This fragment was a near relative of Child's R, a version current in England, and of his S, a Scottish fragment from Kinloch's MS. In 1884 Child printed (as Y) a Kentish version (from Percy's papers), which was sent to Percy in 1770 and 1775 (I: 495-496); and this is also near akin to the American text, which thus appears to be of respectable antiquity. Since Child's death, better copies of the American version have been collected. See JAFL 18: 130-132; 19: 233-235; 28: 200-202; Belden, No. 2; Shearin and Coombs, p. 7; F. C. Brown, p. 9; Pound, p. II; Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 2, p. 3; No. 3, p. 2; No. 4, p. 5; No. 5, p. 5; Cox, 44: 428, 441-442; 45 : 159 (cf. JAFL 29: 400). Belden has collected five variants, in all of which the miller is hanged for "drowning Sister Kate." There is an American text in Child's MSS., xxi, 10, article 5, which ends as follows: -
The miller he was burnt in flame,
The eldest sister fared the same.
I. The West Countree
Communicated by Professor Belden, 1916, as written down from memory by Mrs. Eva Warner Case, with the assistance of her mother and grandmother; Harrison County, Missouri.
[music]There was an old man lived in the West (Bowdown),
Therew as an oldm anl ived
in the West (The bow's a-bend o'er me), There was an old man lived
in the West, He had two daugh-t ers of the best (I'll be
true, true to my love if... my love will be true to me).
1. There was an old man lived in the West,
Bow down,
There was an old man lived in the West,
The bow's a-bend o'er me,
There was an old man lived in the West,
He had two daughters of the best.
I'll be true to my love, if my love will be true to me.
2. The squire he courted the older first,
But still he loved the younger best.
3. The first that he bought her was a beaver hat,
The older thought right smart of that.
4. The next that he bought her was a gay gold ring,
He never bought the older a thing.
5. "Sister, O Sister! let's walk out,
And see the ships all sailing about."
6. They walked all along the salt-sea brim,
The older pushed the younger in.
7. " Sister, O Sister! lend me your hand,
And then I'll gain the promised land."
8. " It's neither will I lend you my hand nor my glove,
And then I'll gain your own true love."
9. Sometimes she'd sink, sometimes she'd swim,
Sometimes she'd grasp a broken limb.
10. Down she sank and off she swam,
She swam into the miller's dam.
11. The miller went fishing in his own milldam,
And he fished this lady out of the stream.
12. Off her finger he pulled three rings,
And dashed her in the brook again.
13. The miller was hanged on his own mill-gate
For the drowning of my sister Kate.
II. There was an Old Woman Lived on the Seashore.
Communicated by Professor Louise Pound, 1916. "In a manuscript collection of songs in the possession of Mrs. Mary F. Lindsey, of Hebron, Neb. Dated 1870." It has obviously been used as a dance-song.
1. There was an old woman lived on the seashore,
Bow down,
There was an old woman lived on the seashore,
Balance true to me,
And she had daughters three or fore.
Saying, I'll be true to my love,
If my love is true to me.
2. The oldest one she had a beau
3. Her beau he bought her a beaver hat,
And sister Kate got mad at that.
4. The oldest and yongest were walking the seashore;
The oldest pushed the yongest ore.
5. She bowed her head and away she swam
6. The miller threw out his big long huck
And safely brought her from the brook.
7. He took from her fingers gold rings ten
And plunged her back into the brook again.
8. The miller was hung on his own mill-gate
For robbing poor sister Kate.
LORD RANDAL (Child, No. 12).
Innumerable copies have been collected in America: see the references given by Tolman and Kittredge (JAFL 29: 157). Add JAFL 22 : 75, 77 (tune); 23 : 443-444 (tunes); 26 : 353; 27: 59, 62, 63; 28 : 200-202; Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 2, p. 4; No. 3, P. 3; No. 4, P. 5; No. 5, PP. 5-6; F. C. Brown, p. 9; Cox, 45: 160 (JAFL 29: 400). Miss Josephine McGill has recently printed a full text, with music, in her "Folk-Songs of the Kentucky Mountains" (New York, 1917), PP. 18-22.[9]
A copy from Ohio communicated by Professor John S. Kenyon of Butler College, Indianapolis, in 1914, as written down by Mr. Robert Buck, agrees with one of Professor Tolman's (JAFL 29 : 157) not only in the hero's name (Johnny Ramble), but in the vigor of the bequest to his "true-love," -. "hell fire and brimstone." [10 Another, from southern Indiana, communicated by Mr. Wallace C. Wadsworth,
ends curiously: -
"What will you will to your sweetheart, Jimmy Ransing, my son?
What will you will to your sweetheart, my dear little one?"
"A bunch of balm to make her bones grow brown,
For she is the cause of my long lying down."
This, too, is similar to Tolman's copy, just mentioned: -
"All hell and damnation, for to parch her soul brown,
For she is the one that has caused me lie down."
In two copies communicated by Miss Louise Whitefield Bray in 1914, as sung by New York children ("Henry, or Hendry, my Son"), a sister is the poisoner, and in one of these there is an additional stanza after the bequest of the "ropes to hang her:"
"Who will you have to the funeral, Henry, my son?
Who will you have to the funeral, my loving one?"
"All but sister, all but sister!
Make my bed; I've a pain in my side,
And I want to lie down and die."
In this same copy we have a bequest "to baby;" namely, "gods and angels" (in the other, "a kiss from heaven"). Another copy (apparently from the same source as Miss Bray's) has "guardian angels" as the bequest "for baby," and "a rope to hang her" as that "for sister." It concludes:
"Who do you want at the funeral, Henry, my son?
Who do you want at the funeral, my loving one?"
"All but sister, all but sister!
Make my bed; I've a pain in my head,
And I want to lie down and die."
"How do you want your bed made?" etc.
"Long and narrow, long and narrow.
Make my bed," etc.
This was communicated by Mr. John R. Reinhard, of Mount Holyoke College, in 1917, as taken down by one of his students who did "settlement work" in New York in the summer preceding, and heard it sung by the children. An excellent version, genuinely traditional, and running stanza for stanza with Child's A, has been communicated by Professor Belden (I916), who received it from Mrs. Case (see p. 322, below). The tune follows: -
[Music]
Oh, where have you been, L ord R andal,m y son ?
Oh, where h ave y oubeen, my handsome yo ung man?
O h,I 've been to the wildwood; Moth- er, make my bed
soon,.. I'm wea - ry of hunt-ing and I fain would lie down.
SIR LIONEL (Child, No. 18)
The peculiar version of this ballad known as "Old Bangum and the Boar" was discovered in Missouri by Professor Belden, who published a fragment of three stanzas in this Journal in 19o6 (I9: 235).[11] In I912 he published a fragment of seven stanzas (JAFL 25 : 175-176). A Virginian version was printed (with the tune) by Professor Grainger in the "Focus" for February, 1914, 4: 48-49 (still incomplete).[12] Other Virginian copies are reported in the Bulletin of the Virginia Folk-Lore Society (No. 4, P-. 5; No. 5, p. 6). A five-stanza variant (with tune) is published by Miss McGill in her " Folk-Songs of the Kentucky Mountains" (1917), PP. 78-81. Professor Belden now communicates an excellent text, received by him in 1916 from Mrs. Eva Warner Case (see p. 322, below). This is most nearly related to Child's D and E. [13] Meanwhile "Old Bangum" has been published in England under the title of "Brangywell" and "Dilly Dove" in two texts (with tunes) taken down in Herefordshire in 1905 and 90o9. The former is now reprinted for comparison. The tunes, both English and American, show considerable variety.
Bangum and the Boar.
The following text (with the tune) is communicated by Professor Belden, who received it (with the tune) in 1916 from Mrs. Eva Warner Case. Mrs. Case writes: "This song was furnished me by Miss Josephine Casey, head of the domestic art department in the Manual Training High School of Kansas City, Missouri. Miss Casey is a grandniece of General Zachary Taylor, ... president of the United States from 1849 to 1850. General Taylor and President Madison were both great-great-grandsons of James Taylor, who came from Carlisle, England, to Orange County, Virginia, in 1638, and both were hushed to sleep by their negro 'mammies' with the strains of 'Bangum and the Boar."'
I. Old Bangum would a-wooing ride,
Dillum down, dillum down;
Old Bangum would a-wooing ride
With sword and buckler by his side.
Cum-e-caw cud-e-down
Kill-e-quo-qum.
2. Old Bangum rode to Greenwood-side,
And there a pretty maid he spied.
3. "There is a wild boar in this wood
That'll cut your throat and suck your blood."
4. " Oh how can I this wild boar see?"
"Blow a blast, and he'll come to thee."
5. Old Bangum clapped his horn to his mouth
And blew a blast both loud and stout.
6. The wild boar came in such a rage
He made his way through oak and ash.
7. They fit three hours in the day;
At last the wild boar stole away.
8. Old Bangum rode to the wild boar's den
And spied the bones of a thousand men.
Brangywell [14]
From Ella Mary Leather, "The Folk-Lore of Herefordshire" (Hereford and London, 1912), pp. 202-203. From the singing of Mrs. Mellor at Dilwyn, 1905.
1. As Brangywell went forth to plough,
Dillum, down dillum;
As Brangywell went forth to plough,
Killy-co-quam;
As Brangywell went forth to plough,
He spied a lady on a bough, [15]
Killy-co, cuddle-dame,
Killy-co-quam.
2. "What makes thee sit so high, lady,
That no one can come nigh to thee?"
3. "There is a wild boar in the wood,
If I come down, he'll suck my blood."
4. "If I should kill the boar," said he,
"Wilt thou come down and marry me?"
5. "If thou shouldst kill the boar," said she,
"I will come down and marry thee."
6. Then Brangywell pulled out his dart
And shot the wild boar through the heart.
7. The wild boar fetched out such a sound
That all the oaks and ash fell down.
8. Then hand in hand they went to the den
And found the bones of twenty men.
THE CRUEL MOTHER (Child, No. 20)
A copy from Nova Scotia was published in this Journal by Professor W. R. Mackenzie in 1912 (25: 183-184). See also Bertrand L. Jones, "Folk-Lore in Michigan," 1914, p. 5 (from South Carolina by way of Kentucky; a fragment of three stanzas); Cox, 46: 64-65 (9 stanzas with refrain; cf. Cox, 45 : 159; JAFL 29: 400). See also Shearin and Coombs, p. 7; Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 3, P. 3; No. 4, P. 5; No. 5, p. 6; Reed Smith, JAFL 27: 62; 28: 200-202. Words and music are given by Miss McGill, "Folk-Songs from the Kentucky Mountains," 1917, pp. 82-86 ("The Greenwood Side"). One stanza from Kentucky (with the melody) is printed in the " Journal of the Folk-Song Society," 2: I09-110. For recent English tradition see the same, 3: 70-72; Sharp, " One Hundred English Folksongs," No. 13, pp. xxiii, 35.
THE TWA BROTHERS (Child, No. 49).
For American texts see Child, I : 443-444 (New York and Massachusetts); JAFL 26: 353, 361-362 (Pound, Nebraska from Missouri [16]); 27: 59; 28: 200-2oI; 29: 158 (Tolman, Indiana). Compare Shearin and Combs, p. 7 (Shearin, "Modern Language Review," 6: 514; " Sewanee Review," January, 1911); Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 3, P. 3; No. 4, p. 6; No. 5, p. 6; Cox, 45 : 160 (cf. JAFL 29: 400).
A brief but impressive version ("John and William") has just been published (with the music) by Miss Josephine McGill in her "Folk-Songs of the Kentucky Mountains" (1917, PP. 54-58). It contains the following stanza (6), which agrees with Child B 10, C I8:--
She mourned the fish all out of the sea,
The birds all out of the nest;
She mourned her true love out of his grave
Because that she could not rest.
Compare B 10:-
She put the small pipes to her mouth,
And she harped both far and near,
Till she harped the small birds off the briers,
And her true love out of the grave.
And C I8: -
She ran distraught, she wept, she sicht,
She wept the sma birds frae the tree,
She wept the starns adoun frae the lift,
She wept the fish out o the sea.
As a whole, Miss McGill's version stands nearest to Child's B.
[The Two Brothers.]
Communicated by Professor Belden. Sent to him without title in the summer of 1913 by Mrs. George H. Barnet of Columbia, Mo., who learned it from her mother.
1. . . . . . . . . . .
"Go away, go away, and let me alone,
For I am too young and small."
2. His brother took out his little penknife,
Both sharp and keen at the point,
And he pierced it in his younger brother's heart
Between the short ribs and the long.
3. "O brother, O brother, when you go home
My mother will ask for me;
Tell her I'm down in Dublin town,
Sleeping beneath the churchyard tree."
4. His brother took off his shirt
And he ripped it from seam to seam,
And he bound it around his younger
Brother's precious bleeding heart.
YOUNG BEICHAN (Child, No. 53)
"Young Bakeman" was reprinted by Barry in I905 from a Coverly broadside (Boston, early nineteenth century; JAFL 18 : 209-21). This same version occurs in two American broadsides of the first part of the nineteenth century in the Harvard College Library, - (I) "Sold, wholesale and retail, by L. Deming, No. 62, Hanover Street," Boston;[17] (2) "Printed and sold at No. 26, High Street, Providence," R.I.[18] It is found also in "The Forget Me Not Songster" (New York, Nafis & Cornish [about 1840]), pp. 171-174, from which Belden reprinted it in "Modern Philology," 2: 30I-305.[19] A version in a much more popular tone (resembling Child's L) has been found in oral circulation in this country, and has been several times published: see JAFL 20 : 251-252 (Miss Pettit); 22: 64-65 (Beatty); 26: 353 (Pound: cf. 27 : 59); 28: 149-151 (Perrow); Cox, 46: 20, 22; Wyman and Brockway, "Lonesome Tunes," I : 58- 61 (with music). This version is like the regular English broadside (Child's L) [20]in some points in which both differ from A and B, but cannot (at least in the forms collected by Pound, Perrow, and Cox) be derived from any broadside that I have seen. The test is the boring of the hero's shoulder (as in Child's A, B, D, E, H, I, N), which has disappeared from the broadside version, but is retained in Pound, Perrow, and Cox. Miss Pound's text reads, -
They bored a hole through his left shoulder
And bound him fast unto a tree
And gave him nothing but bread and water.
Bread and water once a day.[21]
Perrow has, -
They bored a hole in his left shoulder
And nailed him down unto a tree
And gave him nothing but bread and water
And bread and water but once a day.[22]
Cox, -
They bored a hole through his left shoulder,
And through the same a rope did tie,
They made him load cold calks of iron,
Till he took sick and like to a died. [23]
The regular broadside text reads (with variations), -
All in the prison there grew a tree,
Oh! there it grew so stout and strong,
Where he was chained by the middle,
Until his life was almost gone. [24]
And this turn re-appears in the version now in oral circulation in England: see Kidson, "Traditional Tunes," pp. 32-36; Broadwood and Fuller Maitland, "English County Songs," pp. 62-63; Sharp and Marson, " Folk Songs from Somerset," No. 65, 3 : 28-31; "Journal of Folk-Song Society," I :240-241; 3 : 192-200; Sharp, "One Hundred English Folksongs," No. 6, pp. 17-19. Broadwood and Keynardson's No. 22 ("Sussex Songs," p. 43) is a fragment. For Scotland, see Gavin Greig," Folk-Songs of the North-East," lxxviii (not the broadside).
The Harvard College Library has the following broadsides of "Lord Bateman," all substantially identical in text:-- 25242.2, fol. I44 (Pitts); 25242.4, i, 196 (J. Catnach, = 25242.10.5, fol. 3); same, i, 208 (no imprint); 25242.17, iii, 49 (J. Kendrew, York); same, iii, 143 (Forth, Pocklington); iv, I9 (no imprint); vi, 137 (Bebbington, Manchester, No. 31, = ix, 31); Child Broadsides (H. Such, No. 472); 25242.18, No. 15 (R. Evans, Chester); Child MSS., xxiii, 53 (E. Hodges; [25] Catnach); also an eighteenth-century chapbook, "A Favourite Garland" (25276.43-58, No. 17: Preston, E. Sergent), which contains "Young Beckman" in a text resembling that of the broadsides. Founded on the broadside version is "The grand serio-comic opera of Lord Bateman, and his Sophia. By J. H. S.[26] late J. H. P. (Jas. Rogers, Middle Hill Press, 1863). Further American references are Shearin and Coombs, p. 7; Pound, p. 9; F. C. Brown, p. 9; Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 2, P. 4; No. 3, P. 3; No. 5, p. 6; JAFL 22 : 78; 27 :61-62; 28 :200- 202; Cox, 45 : 16o (JAFL 29 :400); "Berea Quarterly," October, 1915 (18: 12). Professor G. L. Hamilton has called my attention to the fragments in Edward Eggleston's "Transit of Civilization" (New York, 190l), pp. 137-138 (cf. p. 119). The ballad was printed as a child's book some forty years ago by McLoughlin Brothers, New York, the famous publishers of picture-books in colors.
"The Turkish Lady" sometimes appears as the title or sub-title of "Young Beichan." There is, however, another ballad (or song) called "The Turkish Lady,"- in a cheap literary style, - which has often been printed, and has obtained some oral currency. It tells substantially the same tale, but briefly, and names no names. Barry has reprinted this "Turkish Lady" (JAFL 23 : 449-451) from "The Forget Me Not Songster" (New York, Nafis & Cornish), pp. 169-I70 (where it immediately precedes "Lord Bakeman"). It occurs also in "The Forget Me Not Songster" (Philadelphia and New York, Turner & Fisher), pp. 248-249, and in the "Washington Songster" (same publishers), pp. 131-132 (Brown University, Harris Collection). "The Turkish Lady" may be found in an eighteenth-century chapbook, "Jockie to the Fair" (etc.), in the Boswell collection, 28, No. 43, and 29, No. 41 (Harvard College Library). It begins,
"You virgins all I pray draw near;" and ends, "By this you see what love can do."
See also the following broadsides in the same library: Child Broadsides, 25242.5.6, No. 3 (Pitts, early riineteenth century); 25242.5.7, p. 82 (early nineteenth century; no imprint); 25242.10.5, fo.. II9 ("The Turkish Rover," a slip; "Swindells,
Printer"); 25242.5.13 F (282) (Devonport, Elias Keys, two editions). There is a copy in Kinloch's MSS., I : 263-266; 5:53-56 ("The Turkish Lady and English Slave"), which Child transcribed in full, but afterwards rejected (Child MSS., xxiii, 53, article 4). Child notes (ibid.) that Kinloch's version is nearly the same as that in Logan, "A Pedlar's Pack," pp. 11-18 (from a garland of 1782), and that there is a text from singing in Christie's "Traditional Ballad Airs," I : 246- 247.[27] For a small fragment (with tune) see "Journal of the Folk- Song Society," I 1:113. Compare Campbell's poem, "The Turkish Lady" (" Poetical Works," 1828, 2: 133-135).
THE CHERRY-TREE CAROL (No. 54)
Miss Josephine McGill contributed an excellent version of "The Cherry-Tree Carol" to this Journal in 1916 (29:293-294; tune, 29: 417). Words and music are now included in her "Folk-Songs from the Kentucky Mountains," 1917, pp. 59-64 ("The Cherry Tree"). Professor C. Alphonso Smith printed a fragment of one stanza (from Virginia) in Bulletin, 1915, No. 4, p. 6 (see JAFL 29 : 294). In No. 5, 1916, p. 6, he reports "an excellent version from Campbell County," Virginia, and the tune from Culpeper County. For recent English copies and tunes, see "Journal of Folk-Song Society," 3:260-261; 5:11-14, 321-323; Sharp, "English Folk-Carols," Nos. 3, 4, PP. 7-1o; Shaw and Dearmer, "The English Carol Book," 1913, No. 6, p. I4; 2 Gillington, " Old Christmas Carols," Nos. 9, 16, pp. 14, 24. There is a fine Gaelic song very like this carol in Carmichael,
"Carmina Gadelica," [28] : 162-163, No. 195, called Ciad Mierail Chriosd (" First Miracle of Christ").
YOUNG HUNTING (Child, No. 68)
A copy of the version current in America under the name of "Love Henry," "Loving Henry," or "Lord Henry," was contributed to
this Journal by Miss Pettit in 1907 (20 :252-253), as taken down in Knott County, Kentucky. It is nearest to Child's F (Motherwell's MS.). A similar text ("Love Henry") was printed some years ago in Delaney's "Scotch Song Book No. I," p. 6 (New York, William W. Delaney).' Variants of this version are reported by Mrs. Olive Dame Campbell, "The Survey" (New York, Jan. 2, 1915), 23:373; Cox, 45: 160 (cf. JAFL 29 :400); Smith, Bulletin, No. 5, p. 6; Shearin and Combs, p. 8; Belden, No. 3; JAFL I8 : 295. Interesting variants of "Loving Henry" have been communicated recently by Miss Loraine Wyman, Professor Belden, and Mr. Wallace C. Wadsworth.
I. Loving Henry
Communicated, 1916, by Miss Loraine Wyman, as taken down by her from the singing of Lauda Whitt, McGoffin County, Kentucky, in that year.
1. "Get down, get down, loving Henry," she cried,
"And stay all night with me;
This costly cord around my waist
I'll make sublime to thee."
2. "O I can't get down, O I can't get down,
And stay all night with you;
For there's another girl in the Eden land
That I love far better than you."
3. As he reared in his saddle stirrups,
To kiss her lily white cheeks,
All in her hand she held a sharp knife,
And in him she stabbed it deep.
4. "Live hours, live hours, loving Henry," she cried,
"Live hours some two or three;
For there's no girl in the Eden land
That will wait the coming of thee."
5. " I can't live hours, I can't live hours,
I can't live hours two or three;
For don't you see my own heart's blood
Come flowing out of me?"
6. "Must I go east, must I go west,
Or any way under the sun,
To get a doctor so good and kind
As to heal the wounded one?"
7. "You need not go east, you need not go west,
Nor no way under the sun;
For there's no doctor but God alone
Can heal this wounded one."
8. She took him by the yellow hair,
She took him by the feet,
She threw him over the downward wall,
Where the water was cold and deep.
9. "Lie there, lie there, loving Henry," she cried,
"With water up to your chin;
For there's no girl in the Eden land
To await your long coming in."
10. "O don't you see that sweet little bird
A-flying from vine to vine?
It's searching for its own true love,
Just like I search for mine.
11. "Fly down, fly down, you sweet little bird,
And sit upon my knee;
For I have a golden cage at home
Hanging in the green willow tree."
12. "I won't fly down, I won't fly down,
And sit upon your knee;
A girl who would murder her own true love
I'm sure would murder me."
13. "O if I had my cedar bow,
And arrow tied with string,
I'd plunge a diamond through your heart;
No longer you'd sit and sing."
14. " But if you had your little elder bow,
An arrow tied with string,
Away to some tall tree I'd fly,
And there I'd sit and sing."
II. [ Young Henry.]
Written down by Miss Vivian Bresnehen of Brookfield, Mo., from the singing of her father, who learned it from a hired man on the farm when he was a boy, in Linn County, about I875. Communicated by Professor Belden, 1917.
1. "Light down, light down, Young Henry," she said,
"And spend a night with me:
Your bed shall be made of the softest down;
'Tis the best I can give thee."
2. "I won't light down, I can't light down,
And spend a night with thee:
There's another girl in Archer's land
I love much better than thee."
3. As he bent over his saddle-bow,
To give her kisses three,
With the little penknife in her right hand
She pierced his heart full deep.
4. "Fie, fie, fair Eleanor," he said,
"Why did you do that to me?
There's not another girl in all the land
I love as well as thee."
5. "Live half an hour, Young Henry," she said,
"Live half an hour for me,
And all the men in our town
Shall give relief to thee."
6. "I can't live half an hour," he said,
"I can't live half an hour for thee,
For don't you see my own heart's blood
Welling out of me?"
7. Some took him by his yellow hair,
And others by his feet,
And threw him into a pool of water
That was both cold and deep.
8. "Lie there, lie there, Young Henry," she said,
"Till the flesh rots off your bones;
And that pretty girl in Archer's land
Shall long for your return home."
9. A pretty parrot swinging in a willow tree,
Hearing all they had to say,
Said, "Yes, that pretty girl in Archer's land
Shall long for his return home."
Io. "Fly down, fly down, pretty parrot," said she,
"And alight on my right knee,
And your cage shall be made of the yellow beaten gold
And swing in the willow tree."
II. " I can't fly down, I won't fly down,
I won't fly down," said he,
"For you have murdered your own true love
And soon would you murder me."
12. "If I had a bow in my right hand,
And an arrow to the string,
I would shoot you a dart right through the heart,
That you never should sing again."
13. "If you had a bow to your right hand,
And an arrow to the string,
I would raise my wings and fly away;
You never should see me again."
III. Love Henry.
Communicated in 1916 by Mr. Wallace C. Wadsworth, as taken down from the singing of his mother and grandmother shortly before. Mr. Wadsworth notes that his grandmother had learned the song when young. "The district in which she was born, and has lived until the last few years, is a rather isolated farming community in southern Indiana, where all the people . . . are descendants of early settlers. Tracing farther back, they are nearly all from early English New England or Virginia stock."
I. "Sit down, sit down, Love Henry," she said,
"And stay all day with me,
And you shall have red cherries, as red,
As red as they can be."
2. "No I won't sit down, for I can't sit down,
And stay all day with thee;
For there's a pretty little girl in the Orkis land
That I love much better than thee."
3. And as he stooped o'er her pillow soft,
To give her a kiss so sweet,
With a little penknife in her right hand
She pierced his heart full deep.
4. "Oh fie, fie, fie, Fair Ellen," he said,
"How can you serve me so?
There's not a girl in all this world
That I love as well as thou."
5. "Oh live, live, live, Love Henry," she said,
"One-half an hour for me,
And all the doctors of Fairfield Town
Shall be here with thee."
6. "No I will not live, for I cannot live
One-half an hour for thee;
For I'm sure I feel my own heart's blood
Come a-trinkling down my knee."
302 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
7. She called unto her waiting-maid,
"Can you keep a secret for me?"
8. One took him by his long yellow hair,
Another by his feet;
They threw him into the cold well-water,
Which was both cold and deep.
9. "Lie there, lie there, Love Henry," she said,
"Till the flesh rots off your bones,
And the pretty little girl in the Orkis land
Will look long for your return home."
Io. A parrot sat in the willow tree,
And heard what she had to say,
As she said, "The pretty little girl in the Orkis land
Will look long for your return home."
I I. "Fly down, fly down, pretty parrot," she said,
"And sit on my right knee,
And your cage shall be lined with yellow beaten gold
And hung on the willow tree."
12. "No I won't fly down, nor I sha'n't fly down,
And sit on your right knee,
For you have murdered your own true love;
Full soon you would murder me."
13. "If I had my own true bow,
With an arrow to the string,
I'd shoot a dart right through your heart;
You never would sing again."
13. "And if you had your own true bow,
With an arrow to the string,
I would raise my wings and fly away;
You never would see me again."
FAIR MARGARET AND SWEET WILLIAM (Child, No. 74).
To the references given by Tolman in this Journal, 29: 160, add: 27 : 58-62; 28 : 200-203; "Focus," 4 : 426-427; Cox, 45 : 159, 378, 388 (JAFL 29: 400); Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 2, P. 4; No. 3, P. 3; No. 4, p. 6; No. 5, P. 7; F. C. Brown, p. 9. A text from Harlan County, Kentucky ("Sweet William and Lady Margery," fourteen stanzas), with the music, is in Wyman and Brockway, "Lonesome Tunes," I : 94-99. It resembles Child's B and the Massachusetts variant printed by Child, 5 : 293-294. Miss McGill's "Sweet William" (twenty stanzas, and tune) is also to be classed with Child's B ("Folk-Songs of the Kentucky Mountains," 1917, pp. 69-77). Professor Belden has four variants. Ballads and Songs. 303
[Lydia Margaret.]
Communicated, 1914, by Mr. S. B. Neff, as written down in that year from memory by his father, Mr. Francis Marion Neff of Ridgeway, Mo., aged about seventy-six, who was born in Indiana, and removed to Missouri at about the age of twenty. Mr. F. M. Neff had never seen the ballad in print.
1. Sweet William arose on Monday morning,
And he dressed himself in blue:
"Come and tell unto me that long, long love
That's between Lydia Margaret and you." 1
2. "I know no harm of Lydia Margaret,
And she knows no harm of me;
But to-morrow morning at the eight o'clock hour
Lydia Margaret my bride shall see."
3. Lydia Margaret was sitting in her upper bar door,
A-combing her long yellow hair,
As she spied Sweet William and his own dear bride,
As they to the church drew near.
4. She threw down her fine ivory combs,
Her long yellow hair also;
And she threw herself from the upper bar door,
And the blood it began to flow.
5. " I had a dream the other night -
I feared there was no good -
I dreamed that my hall was full of wild swine
And my true love was floating in blood."
6. He called down his merry maids all,
He called them by one, two, and three,
And he asked the leave of his own dear bride:
"Sweet one, may I go and see?"
7. He rode and he rode till he came to Lydia Margaret's door,
And he tingled on the ring;
And there was none so ready as her own dear brother
To rise and let him in.
8. "Oh where is Lydia Margaret to-day?
Oh where is she, I say?
For once I courted her for love,
And she stole my heart away.
9. "Is she in her bedchamber,
Or is she in her hall,
Or is she in her own kitchen
Among her merry maids all?"
I The last two lines are to be repeated.
304 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
10o. "She is neither in her bedchamber,
She is neither in her hall,
But yonder she lies in her own coffin,
As it sits against the wall."
11. "Fold down those lily-white sheets;
Oh fold them down!" he said,
And as he kissed her clay-cold lips,
His heart was made to grieve.
12. Lydia Margaret [died] as if it was to-day,
Sweet William he died on the morrow;
Lydia Margaret she died for pure, pure love,
And Sweet William he died for sorrow.
13. Lydia Margaret was laid in the high churchyard,
Sweet William was laid in the mire;
And out of Lydia Margaret's bosom sprang a rose,
And out of Sweet William's was a brier.
14. They grew and they grew to the church steeple top,
They grew till they couldn't grow any higher;
And there they tied in a true lover's knot,
The red rose and the brier.
THE LASS OF ROCH ROYAL (No. 76).
Professor J. H. Cox prints a complete copy from West Virginia which closely resembles that in Jamieson's "Popular Ballads" (1806, I : 37-44),1 and undoubtedly goes back to print, though learned by
Cox's informant from an oral source ("West Virginia School Journal
and Educator," 45 : 347-349, cf. 159). Stray stanzas from the ballad
(cf. Child's J, 2: 225) turn up now and then in this country, sometimes
alone, and sometimes in unexpected contexts: see Child, 3: 512
(two stanzas from "the Carolina mountains"); "Focus," 4 : 49 (the
same two, from Virginia); Babcock, "Folk-Lore Journal," 7:31,
reprinted by Child (3 : 511-512; the same two stanzas in song of
parting lovers, from Virginia); "Focus," 3 : 275 (in a song of parting
lovers, from Virginia); 2 Belden, No. 91 (in a parting song, from
Missouri); Bascom, JAFL 22: 240 (in "Kitty Kline," from North
Carolina); Shearin, "Modern Language Review," 6 : 514-515 (in
"Cold Winter's Night," Kentucky); 3 Lomax, " North Carolina Book-
1 Jamieson's text was reprinted by Child in 1857 in his earlier collection, English and
Scottish Ballads, 2 : 99-105. Cox's text is nearer to Jamieson than to Scott (Minstrelsy,
1802, 3 : 51-59). Both Jamieson and Scott go back to Mrs. Brown (see Child, 2 : 213).
2 This little song consists of the same stanzas, with a chorus and one concluding
stanza. This last appears, oddly but effectively, as stanza 4 in an interesting version of
"The Hangman's Song" (" The Maid Freed from the Gallows," Child, No. 95) recently
obtained by Miss Loraine Wyman in Kentucky and published in Lonesome Tunes, I : 48.
3 Compare Coombs and Shearin, Syllabus, p. 8; Shearin, Sewanee Review, July, 1911.
let," 11 :29-30 (in a comic song); Perrow, JAFL 28: 147-148 (in
"Careless Love," from Mississippi); Cox, JAFL 26: 181, and "West
Virginia School Journal," 44: 216-217 (in " John Hardy ").' Compare
F. C. Brown, p. 9; C. Alphonso Smith, Bulletin, No. 2, p 5; No. 3,
p. 4; No. 4, p. 6; No. 5, P. 7; Reed Smith, JAFL 28 : 201, 202.
For "The Lass of Ocram" (or "Aughrim"), of which Child prints
an Irish version from Michigan (2:213) and also (3: 5I-5II) a
Roxburghe copy (Roxburghe, 3:488; Ebsworth, 6 : 609-615), see
the Pitts broadside (Harvard College, 25242.28), and a garland printed
by E. Sergent, Preston (25276.43.58, No. 53).
THE WIFE OF USHER'S WELL (Child, No. 79).
Since Miss Backus's North Carolina version of the ballad ("'There
was a lady fair and gay") was printed in Child, 5 : 294,2 many variants
have been collected in this country, belonging to that same general
version. Belden publishes a text (from Missouri) in JAFL 23:429;
Emma Bell Miles, one in "Harper's Magazine" for June, 1904 (109:
121-122); Cox (44:388 and 45 : 11-12) publishes a fragment and a
complete copy, both from West Virginia, and reports other variants
(cf. 45 : 160; JAFL 29 : 400); Miss McGill gives words and tune in
her "Folk-Songs from the Kentucky Mountains," pp. 4-8. See also
Shearin and Coombs, p. 9 ("Lady Gay," closely resembles Miss
Backus's text); F. C. Brown, p. 9; Virginia Folk-Lore Society,
Bulletin, No. 4, P. 7; No. 5, P. 7; JAFL 27 : 59-62; 28 : 199-202,
A peculiar version in Mrs. Leather's "Folk-Lore of Herefordshire " (1912, pp. 198-I99) contains a stanza adapted from "The Carnal and the Crane" (Child, No. 55):4 -
Then Christ did call for the roasted cock,
That was feathered with his only hands;
He crowed three times all in the dish
In the place where he did stand.
I.
Children's Song.
From Professor Walter Morris Hart of the University of California; communicated by Mrs. Agnes McDougall Henry, M.L., formerly of that university. Professor Hart writes, concerning this and other 1 As to "John Hardy," see JAFL 22 : 247; 29 : 400; Shearin and Combs, p. 19; Berea Quarterly, 14: 26; F. C. Brown, p. 12; Cox, 45 : 12, 16o. 2 Reprinted in JAFL 13: 119-120.
* Cox (44 : 388) also prints two stanzas of a version corresponding to Child's A, which
appears to have been brought to West Virginia from Ireland.
4 Compare Broadwood, English Traditional Songs and Carols, pp. 74-75, 122; Sharp,
English Folk-Carols, No. I, pp. 2-4; Journal of Folk-Song Society, I : 183; 4: 22-25;
a broadside of about 1780, Worcester [England], J. Grundy (Harvard College Library,
25242.5.5 R49, No. i3]); Notes and Queries, 3d series, 3 : 94.
306 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
ballads (Dec. Io, 1915): "They were sung to her by the mother of a
family in the mountains of western North Carolina, whose name,
Ellen Crowder, will recall to ballad-lovers, perhaps not impertinently,
the 'blind crouder' of Sidney's immortal comment on Chevy Chace.
'One day,' writes Mrs. Henry, 'while Ellen was absorbed in splitting
a broom, I mentioned "Barbara Allen." In that unguarded moment
she began to sing the first verse. I found that she and.her husband
and sisters sang a good many ballads years ago, but they had forgotten
all except the four versions I am sending you. When I inquired why
they had ceased singing them, the reply was, " No one seemed to take
delight in them any more, so we laid them by." It appears that the
ancestors of these people were in the mountains of North Carolina
before the Revolution, and that they have been illiterate up to the
present generation. Even now it is a matter of pride that one or two
members of the family are good "scribes." ' "
i. The starry light and the lady bright,
Her children she had three.
She sent them away to the North country
To learn those gramerie.
2. They hadn't been gone but a very short time,
Scarce three months and a day,
Till death came rushing along o'ver the land
And swept those babes away.
3. Their mother came as far to know,
She wrung her hands full sore.
"The less, the less, the less!" she cried,
"Shall I see my babes no more?"
4. "There were a king in heaven," she said,
"That used to wear a crown;
Send all my three little babes to-night
Or in the morning soon."
5. Or Christmas times were drawing nigh,
The nights were long and cold;
Her three little babes came rushing along
Down to their mother's hall.
6. She fixed them a table in the dining room,
Spread over with bread and wine,
Saying, "Eat, 0, eat my sweet little babes;
Come eat and drink of mine."
7. " Mama, we cannot eat your bread,
Nor we can't drink your wine;
For yonder stands our Saviour dear,
And to him we'll return."
8. She fixed them a bed in the backmost room,
Spread over with a clean sheet,
And a golden wine upon the top of them,
To make them sweeter sleep.
9. "Take it off, take it off," says the oldest one,
"The cocks they will soon crow;
For yonder stands our Saviour dear,
And to him we must go."
1o. "Cold clods lays on our feet, mama;
Green grass grows over our heads;
The tears that run all down our cheeks
Did wet the winding sheets."
II. Three Little Babes.
From Professor Louise Pound. Reported from Burt County, Nebraska, by L. A. Quivey of Salt Lake City, Utah. See Miss
Pound's Syllabus, p. 10.
I. Christmas time was drawing near,
And the nights were growing cold,
When three little babes came running down
Into their mother's fold.
2. She spread a table long and wide,
And on it put bread and wine:
"Come eat, come drink, my sweet little babes;
Come eat and drink of mine."
3. "We want none of your bread, mother;
We want none of your wine;
For yonder stands our blessed Lord,
And to him we will join."
4. She made a bed in the very best room,
And on it placed clean sheets,
And over the top a golden spread,
The sweeter they might sleep.
5. " Take it off, take it off," cried the eldest one,
"Take it off," cried he;
"For I would not stay in this wicked world,
Since Christ has died for me."
6. "A sad farewell, kind mother dear;
We give the parting hand,
To meet again on that fair shore
In Canaan's happy land.
7. "A tombstone at our head, mother;
The cold clay at our feet;
The tears we have shed for you, mother,
Have wet these winding sheets."
III. The Lady Gay.
Communicated by Miss Loraine Wyman, as sung by Jasper Day at Pine Mountain, Ky., May 4, 1916.
1. There was a lady, there was a lady gay,
Had handsome children three,
And sent them away to some northern countree
To learn those grammaree.
2. They hadn't been gone so mighty long,
Scarcely three months to a day,
Death came hastling along
And stole those babes away.
3. It was near Old Christmas time
When she prayed for her little babes;
It was near Old Christmas time
When her three little babes were sent home.
4. The table was ready set,
And on it she placed bread and wine:
Says, "You three little babes,
Come and eat, come and drink of mine."
5. " I don't want your bread,
I don't want your wine.
Yonder stands our Saviour dear;
To him we must resign."
IV. The Three Little Babes.
Communicated by Professor Belden. He received it in 1905 from Professor A. R. Hohlfeld, who had it from Miss Mary Pierce, Nashville, Tenn. Miss Pierce heard the song in the Cumberland Mountains (Stonington Springs, Tenn.) in 1901.
i. A lady and a lady gay,
Children she had three,
She sent them away to a northern college
For to learn some grammaree.
2. They hadn't been gone but a very short time,
About three months and a day,
Till death came over the broad, broad land,
And swept those babes away.
3. And what will the dear mother say
When she does hear of this?
She'll wring her hands, she'll scream, and say,
"O, when shall I see my three babies?"
4. 0, Christmas time is a-drawing near,
The nights grew long and cold:
The three little babes came a-lumbering down
All into the mother's room.
5. The table was set and a cloth spread on;
It was set with bread and wine;
"Sit down, sit down, my three little babes,
And eat and drink of mine."
6. "0, mother dear, we cannot eat your bread,
Neither can we drink your wine,
For yonder stands our Saviour dear,
To whom we are design."
7. The bed was fixed in the far back room,
A golden sheet spread on.
"Lie down, lie down, my three little babes,
And sleep till the morning soon."
LITTLE MUSGRAVE AND LADY BARNARD (Child, No. 81)
This famous ballad, one of the finest that exist, is well preserved in America. This Journal has printed a version from Nova Scotia, collected by Professor W. R. Mackenzie of Washington University, St. Louis (23 :371-374; 25 : 182-183: "Little Matha Grove"). Texts are reported from Kentucky by Shearin and Coombs (p. 8, "Lord Vanner's [or Lord Daniel's] Wife "),' from Virginia by Professor C. Alphonso Smith (Bulletin, No. 3, p. 4), from North Carolina by Professor F. C. Brown (p. 9, cf. JAFL 28 :201), from South Carolina by Professor Reed Smith (JAFL 28 : 201), and a fragment from West Virginia by Professor J. H. Cox (46 : 22, 64).
I. Lord Orland's Wife.
Collected by Miss Loraine Wyman, 1916, as sung by Hillard Smith,
Carr Creek, Knott County, Kentucky.
[music]
I Compare Shearin, Modern Language Review, 6 : 514; Sewanee Review, July, 19II.
I. The first came in was a gay ladye;
The next came in was a girl;
The third came in was Lord Orland's wife,
The fairest of them all.
2. Little Mathew Grew was standing by;
She placed her eyes on him:
"Go up with me, Little Mathew Grew,
This livelong night we'll spend."
3. "I can tell by the ring that's on your finger
You are Lord Orland's wife."
"But if I am Lord Orland's wife,
Lord Orland is not at home."
4. The little footpage was standing by,
Heard all that she did say:
"Your husband sure will hear these words
Before the break of day."
5. He had sixteen miles to go,
And ten of them he run;
He run till he came to the broken bridge,
He smote his breast and swum.
6. He ran till he came to Lord Orland's hall,
He ran till he came to the gate,
He rattled those bells and he rung:
"Awake, Lord Orland, awake!"
7. "What's the matter, what's the matter, little footpage?
What's the news you bring to me?"
"Little Mathew Grew's in the bed with your wife;
It's as true as anything can be."
8. "If this be a lie," Lord Orland he said,
"That you have brought to me,
I'll build a scaffold on the king's highway,
And hanged you shall be."
9. "If this be a lie I bring to you,
Which you're taking it to be,
You need not build a scaffold on the king's highway,
But hang me to a tree."
Io. At first they fell to hugging and kissing,
At last they fell to sleep;
All on the next morn when they awoke,
Lord Orland stood at their bed feet.
11. "0 how do you like my curtains fine?
O how do you like my sheets?
O how do you like my gay ladye,
That lies in your arms asleep?"
Ballads and Songs. 311
12. "Very well I like your curtains fine,
Very well I like your sheets;
Much better I like your gay ladye,
That lies in my arms and sleeps."
13. "Get up, get up, little Mathew Grew,
And prove your words to be true.
I'll never have it for to say
A naked man I slew."
14. The first lick struck little Mathew Grew struck,
Which caused an awful wound;
The next lick struck Lord Orland struck,
And laid him on the ground.
15. "0O how do you like my curtains fine?
O how do you like my sheets?
O how do you like little Mathew Grew,
That lies on the ground and sleeps?"
16. "Very well I like your curtains fine,
Very well I like your sheets;
Much better I like little Mathew Grew,
That lies on the ground and sleeps."
II. Little Mathew Grove.
Collected by Miss Loraine Wyman, 1916, as sung by Sallie Adams, Letcher County, Kentucky.
[Music]
Oh, first came down drest in red; Next came down in green; Next came down as Lord
Dan-ie's wife, As fine as an - y queen, As fine as an - y queen.
I. First came down dressed in red;
Next came down in green;
Next came down as Lord Daniel's wife,
As fine as any queen.
2. She stepped up to little Mathew Grove;
She says, "Go home with me to-night."
"I can tell by the little ring you have on your hand,
You are Lord Daniel's wife."
3. "It makes no difference whose wife I am,
To you nor no other man:
My husband's not at home to-night;
He's in some distant land."
4. The little footpage was standing by,
Heard every word was said:
"Your husband surely will hear these words
Before the break of day."
5. He had sixteen miles to go,
And ten of them he run;
He run, he run to the broken broken bridge,
He smote on his breast and swum.
6. He run till he came to Lord Daniel's hall,
He run till he came to the gate,
He rattled those bells and he rung.
7. "What's the matter, what's the matter, little white footpage?
What's the news you bring to me?"
"There's another man in the bed with your wife,
As sure as you are born."
8. "If this be a lie," Lord Daniel said,
"That you have brought to me,
I'1l build me a scaffold on the king's highway road,
And hanged you shall be!" (bis)
9. "If this be a lie I bring to you,
Which you're taking it to be,
You need not build a scaffold on the king's highroad,
But hang me to a tree."
10. He gathered up an army of his men,
And he started with a free good will;
He put his bugle to his mouth,
And he blowed both loud and shrill.
11. "Get up, get up, little Mathew Grove;
Get up, then put on your clothes!"
"Lord Daniel surely comes home this night,
For I hear his bugle blow."
12. "Lie still, lie still
And keep me from the cold!
It's nothing but my father's shepherd,
Blowing of his sheep to the fold."
13. From that they fell to hugging and kissing,
From that they fell asleep,
And when they waked up, Lord Daniel
Was standing at their feet."
14. "How do you like your pillow, sir?
How do you like your sheet?
How do you like the gay ladye
That lies in your arms and sleeps?"
I5. " Very well 1 like your pillow, sir;
Very well I like your sheet;
Much better I like your gay ladye,
That lies in my arms and sleeps."
16. "Get up, get up, little Mathew Grove;
Get up and put on your clothes!
It never shall be said in this wide world
A naked man I slew."
17. "You have two bright swords," he said,
" Me not so much as a knife."
"You may have the very best sword,
And I will take the worst." 1
I8. "You may take the very first lick,
And make it like a man;
And I will take the very next lick,
And kill you if I can."
I9. Little Mathew struck the very first lick,
Lord Daniel struck the floor;
Lord Daniel took the very next lick,
Little Mathew struck no more.
20. He took the ladye all by the hand,
Says, "Come sit on my knee!
Which of those men you love best -
Little Mathew Grove or me?"
21. "Much better I like your rosy cheeks;
Much better I like your chin:
Much better I like little Mathew Grove
As you and all your kin."
22...............
he led her to the hall;
He drew his sword and cut off her head;
He stove it against the wall.
III. Lord Daniel's Wife.
Collected by Miss Loraine Wyman, 1916, in Kentucky.
1. The first came down all dressed in red;
The next came down in green;
The next came down was Lord Daniel's wife,
She's as fine as any queen.
2. "Come and go home with me, little Gaby," she said,
"Come and go home with me to-night."
"For I know by the rings on your fingers
You are Lord Daniel's wife."
3. He had sixteen miles to go,
And ten of them he run;
He rode till he came to the broken-down bridge,
He held his breath and swum.
4. He swum till he come where the grass grows green,
He turned to his heels and he run;
He run till he come to Lord Daniel's gate,
He rattled those bells and rung.
5. He travelled over hills and valleys,
Till he come to his staff stand still;
He placed his bugle to his mouth
And blew most loud and shrill.
6. He took little Gaby by the hand,
And led her through the hall;
He took his sword, cut off her h'ead,
And kicked it agin the wall.
1 This fragment was also collected by Miss Wyman:--
"Give me a show for my life," he said,
"Give me a show for my life;
For you have two bright swordsby your side,
And I have not so much as a knife."
IV. Little Matthy Groves.
The following excellent copy, with the melody, was sent to Professor
Belden in 1916 by Mrs. Eva Warner Case, as written down from
memory, with the assistance of her mother and grandmother. It
comes from Harrison County, Missouri.'
[music] 1 See p. 322, below.
I. On a high holiday, on a high holiday,
The very first day of the year,
Little Matthy Groves to church did go
God's holy word to hear, hear,
God's holy word to hear.
2. The first that came in was a gay ladie,
And the next that came in was a girl,
And the next that came in was Lord Arnold's wife,
The fairest of them all.
3. He stepped right up unto this one,
And she made him this reply,
Saying, "You must go home with me to-night,
All night with me for to lie."
4. "I cannot go with you to-night,
I cannot go for my life;
For I know by the rings that are on your fingers
You are Lord Arnold's wife."
5. "And if I am Lord Arnold's wife,
I know that Lord Arnold's gone away;
He's gone away to old England
To see King Henery."
6. A little footpage was standing by,
And he took to his feet and run;
He run till he came to the water-side,
And he bent his breast and swum.
7- "What news, what news, my little footpage?
What news have you for me?
Are my castle walls all toren down,
Or are my castles three?"
8. "Your castle walls are not toren down,
Nor are your towers three;
But little Matthy Groves is in your house,
In bed with your gay ladie."
9. He took his merry men by the hand
And placed them all in a row,
And he bade them not one word for to speak
And not one horn for to blow.
Io. There was one man among them all
Who owed little Matthy some good will,
And he put his bugle horn to his mouth
And he blew both loud and shrill.
11. "Hark, hark! hark, hark!" said little Matthy Groves,
"I hear the bugle blow,
And every note it seems to say,
'Arise, arise, and go!'"
12. "Lie down, lie down, little Matthy Groves,
And keep my back from the cold!
It is my father's shepherd boys
A-blowing up the sheep from the fold."
13. From that they fell to hugging and kissing,
And from that they fell to sleep;
And next morn when they woke at the break of the day,
Lord Arnold stood at their feet.
14. "And it's how do you like my fine feather-bed,
And it's how do you like my sheets?
And it's how do you like my gay ladie,
That lies in your arms and sleeps?"
15. "Very well do I like your fine feather-beds,
Very well do I like your sheets;
But much better do I like your gay ladie,
That lies in my arms and sleeps."
16. "Now get you up, little Matthy Groves,
And all your clothes put on;
For it never shall be said in old England
That I slew a naked man."
17. "I will get up," said little Matthy Groves,
"And fight you for my life,
Though you've two bright swords hanging by your side,
And me not a pocket-knife!"
18. "If I've two bright swords by my side,
They cost me deep in purse;
And you shall have the better of the two,
And I will keep the worse."
19. The very first lick that little Matthy struck,
He wounded Lord Arnold sore;
But the very first lick that Lord Arnold struck,
Little Matthy struck no more.
20. He took his ladie by the hand
And he downed her on his knee,
Saying, "Which do you like the best, my dear,
Little Matthy Groves or me?"
21. "Very well do I like your rosy cheeks,
Very well do I like your dimpled chin;
But better I like little Matthy Groves
Than you and all your kin."
22. He took his ladie by the hand
And led her o'er the plain;
He took the broad sword from his side
And he split her head in twain.
23. " Hark, hark, hark, doth the nightingale sing,
And the sparrows they do cry!
To-day I've killed two true lovers,
And to-morrow I must die."
BONNY BARBARA ALLAN (Child, No. 84).
Many American copies are registered in this Journal, 29: 160-161, where Tolman prints a Virginian text. See also 20 : 256-257; 22: 74 (tune only); 25 : 282 (tune only); 26 : 352; 27 : 59, 62-63; 28: 200-202. Compare Belden, No. 7;' F. C. Brown, p. 9; Virginia Folk- Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 2, p. 3; No. 3, P. 4; No. 4, P. 7; No. 5, p. 8; B. L. Jones, "Folk-Lore in Michigan," p. 5; Cox, 45: 159 (JAFL 29:400); South Carolina Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. I (1913), p. 4; "Berea Quarterly," October, 1915 (18: 12, 15). C. Alphonso Smith reports the ballad from Tennessee ("Summer School News," July 31, 1914, I : I, No. 12, Summer School of the South). Words and tune (from Knott County, Kentucky) are given in Wyman and Brockway, "Lonesome Tunes," I : 1-5; and in McGill, "Folk- Songs from the Kentucky Mountains," pp. 39-44. Professor W. M. Hart has communicated a variant from North Carolina. To the references to American song-books in JAFL 29: 160, note 2, may be added: "The American Songster," Baltimore, 1836 (John Kenedy, editor and publisher), pp. 7-1o (so also in later editions: New York, Nafis and Cornish, about 1840; Cornish, Lamport & Co., 185o); "Barbara Allen," etc., a garland printed in Philadelphia about 1820
(Harvard College, 25276.43.81).
LADY ALICE (Child, No. 85).
Child included in his collection (2 : 279-280) an American version contributed to "Notes and Queries," in 1856 (2d series, I :354), by a Philadelphia lady, as sung forty years before. Professor E. C. Perrow gives a text from North Carolina in JAFL 28: 151-152. Virginian texts are printed in "The Focus," 3 : 154-155; 4 : 50-51. Mrs. Campbell prints two stanzas from northern Georgia in "The Survey" (New York, Jan. 2, 1915, 33 : 373). See also JAFL 27 :62; I Belden now has about a dozen variants.
28 : 200-202; F. C. Brown, p. 9; Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 2, p. 5; No. 3, P. 4; No. 4, P- 7; No. 5, P- 8; Cox, 45 : 159 (JAFL 29 :400). Cox prints a West Virginia variant (46 : 124). For recent English contributions see "Journal of the Folk-Song Society," 3 : 299-302; 4: 106-I09.
LAMKIN (Child, No. 93).
To the references in this Journal, 29 : 162, add F. C. Brown, p. 9; Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 3, P. 4. For England see "Journal of the Folk-Song Society," 5 : 81-84; Sharp, "One Hundred English Folksongs," pp. xxviii, 62-64 (No. 27); "Notes and Queries," IIth series, 8 : 108.
THE MAID FREED FROM THE GALLOWS (Child, No. 95).
The first American copy to be printed was published by Child (5 :296), - "The Hangman's Tree," from Virginia by way of North
Carolina. Others have appeared in JAFL 21 : 56 (West Virginia, Reed Smith); 26 : 175 (from an Irish servant in Massachusetts);1 27 : 64 (South Carolina, Reed Smith); and Miss Wyman and Mr. Brockway have included still another (with the music) in their "Lonesome Tunes," I : 44-48 ("The Hangman's Tree," from Harlan County, Kentucky). See also Reed Smith (JAFL 27 : 59-63; 28 : 200-202); F. C. Brown, p. 9; Cox, 46 :359 (JAFL 29 : 400). For England see Broadwood and Fuller Maitland, "English County Songs," pp. 112-113 ("The Prickly Bush"); Sharp, "Folk Songs from Somerset," 5: 54-55 ("The Briery Bush"); Sharp, "One Hundred English Folksongs," No. 17, pp. xxiv-xxv, 42-43; "Journal of the Folk-Song Society," 2 : 233-234; 5 : 228-239.
Professor C. Alphonso Smith reports several Virginia variants, with specimens, and gives an extremely interesting account of the performance of the piece among the negroes of Albemarle County as "an out-of-door drama" some twenty-five years ago.2 An account of a similar performance in England may be found in the "Journal of the Folk-Song Society," 5 : 233-334.? Compare the first version printed below. Professor Smith also reports a variant from Tennessee ("Summer School News," July 31, 1914 (I : I, No. 12, Summer School of the South).
1 Barry prints a tune from Ireland in JAFL 24: 337 (Hudson MS., Boston Public
Library, No. 121).
2 Ballads Surviving in the United States, reprinted from the January, 1916, Musical
Quarterly, pp. 10-12. See also the Bulletin of the Virginia Folk-Lore Society, No. 2,
p. 5; No. 3, p. 8; No. 4, P. 7; No. 5, p. 8.
3 Here reference is made to Mary A. Owen's Voodoo Tales (published in England
under the title of Old Rabbit the Voodoo), New York, 1893, pp. 185-i89, especially
pp. 188-189 (also in Philadelphia ed., 1898, Old Rabbit's Plantation Stories, same pages).
I. [The Golden Ball.]
Child's version F is a fragment which "had become a children's game, the last stage of many old ballads" (2 :346). This appears
to be the case also with the text now printed, in which the lost object is a golden ball, as in the tale that embodies Child's version H. What precedes the first and second stanzas appears to be a prose dialogue introductory to the ballad, and accompanied by action. The text was communicated by Mr. John R. Reinhard, who procured it from one of his pupils in Mount Holyoke College, Miss Mary F. Anderson. Miss Anderson heard it in New York in the summer of 1916, from children among whom she was doing "settlement work."
"Father, father, may I have my golden ball?"
" No, you may not have your golden ball."
"But all the other girls and boys have their golden balls."
"Then you may have your golden ball; but if you lose your golden ball,
you will hang on yonder rusty gallery.
"Father, father, I have lost my golden ball!"
" Well, then you will hang on yonder rusty gallery."
I. "Captain, captain, hold the rope;
I hear my mother's voice.
Mother, have you come to set me free,
Or have you come to see me hang
On yonder rusty gallery?"
" No, I have come to see you hang
On yonder rusty gallery."
2. "Captain, captain, hold the rope;
I hear my sister's voice.
Sister, have you come to set me free,
Or have you come to see me hang
On yonder rusty gallery?"
"No, I have come to see you hang
On yonder rusty gallery."
3. "Captain, captain, hold the rope;
I hear my baby's voice.
Baby, have you come to set me free,
Or have you come to see me hang
On yonder rusty gallery?"
"Da, da." [Gives him the ball.]
The last stanza varies with the following: -
"Captain, captain, hold the rope;
I hear my sweetheart's voice.
Sweetheart, have you come to set me free,
Or have you come to see me hang
On yonder rusty gallery?"
"Yes, I have brought your golden ball,
And come to set you free;
I have not come to see you hanged
On yonder rusty gallery."
II. The Hangman's Tree.
Communicated by Professor Belden. Sent in by Mr. E. E. Chiles of the Soldan High School, St. Louis, as remembered by his wife from the singing of a housemaid, Elsie Ditch, on a farm near Plattin, Mo., in 1900. This agrees with Miss Wyman's text (and some others) in making the victim a man, and the rescuer his sweetheart.
I. "Hangman, dear hangman, do up your rope
For just a little while;
For yonder comes my father dear,
Who's travelled many a mile.
2. "Father, dear father, have you brought me the gold?
Have you come to buy me free?
Or have you come to see me hung
Upon the gallows tree?"
3. "Son, dear son, I've brought no gold,
Nor come to buy you free,
But I have come to see you hung
Upon the gallows tree."
And so on through mother, sister, brother, until his sweetheart comes:
4. "Hangman, dear hangman, do up your rope
For just a little while;
For yonder comes my sweetheart dear,
Who's travelled many a mile.
5. "Sweetheart, dear sweetheart, have you brought the gold?
Have you come to buy me free?
Or have you come to see me hung
Upon the gallows tree?"
6. "Sweetheart, dear sweeearart, I've brought the gold,
I've come to buy you free;
I have not come to see you hung
Upon the gallows tree."
III. Hangman Song.
Communicated by Professor W. M. Hart, 1915. From Mrs. Ellen Crowder, mountains of western North Carolina (see p. 306,1
above).
1. "O hangman, O hangman, just wait awhile,
Just wait a little while!
I believe I see my dear father;
He's travelled for many a mile.
2. "O father, O father, have ye brought me your gold?
Or have ye bought me free?
Or have ye come to see me hung
All on that lonesome tree?"
3. "0 daughter, O daughter, I've not brought you my gold,
And I've not bought you free,
For I have come to see you hung
All on that lonesome tree."
(Similar verses for mother, brother, and sister.)
10. "O hangman, O hangman, just wait a while,
Just wait a little while!
I believe I see my true lover;
He's travelled for many a mile.
I1. "O sweetheart, O sweetheart, have ye brought me your gold?
Or have ye bought me free?
Or have ye come to see me hung
All on that lonesome tree?"
12. "O sweetheart, O sweetheart, I've brought you my gold
And I have bought you free,
For I've not come to see you hung
All on that lonesome tree."
THE BAILIFF'S DAUGHTER OF ISLINGTON (Child, No. 105).
Child had a copy from Indiana ("received from an Irish lady," 2 : 426) which he did not print, as being from a broadside partly made over by secondary tradition.[2] Copies are reported from Virginia (Bulletin of the Virginia Folk-Lore Society, No. 4, PP. 7-8), Kentucky (Shearin and Coombs, p. 8; letter from Professor E. C. Perrow, Feb.
1 The woman who sang this had been taught that the maiden was to be hanged for
the theft of a golden cup.
2 It is preserved among the Child MSS. (xviii, 31, article io) in the Harvard College
Library.
3 Compare Shearin, Modern Language Review, 6 : 514; Sewanee Review for July, 1911.
12, 1914), Georgia (Reed Smith, JAFL 28 : 200), Michigan (B. L.
Jones).
A text from Missouri (with the tune) is communicated by Professor
Belden as sent to him by Mrs. Eva Warner Case. Mrs. Case gives
the song from memory, "with the assistance of her mother and
grandmother." "It was commonly sung," she writes, "in Harrison
County, Missouri, as late as 1890. The settlers here were of Virginia
and Kentucky stock, with a sprinkling of Tennesseeans, and many of
the songs had been in the family at the time of their coming from
England." Mrs. Case's text corresponds pretty closely to the old
broadside reproduced (inexactly) by Percy and (accurately) by Child
(2 :427-428). It omits stanza 2 only. Stanza II shows an amusing
variation.
"Then will I sell my goodly steed,
My saddle and my bow;
I will into some far countrey,
Where no man doth me know" (Child, st. II).
"If she be dead and I am a-living,
She's lying there so low,
Oh take from me my coal-black steed,
My fiddle and my bow!" (Case, st. 10).
The following fragment was communicated in February, 1916, by Mr. Wallace C. Wadsworth from recitation, apparently in Indiana.
I. One eve the maids of Hazelton
Went out to sport and play,
But the bailiff's daughter of Hazelton
She slyly stole away.
2. There was a youth, a well-beloved youth,
The squire's only son,
And he fell in love with the bailiff's daughter,
And she lived in Hazelton.
SIR HUGH, OR THE JEW'S DAUGHTER (Child, No. 155).
To the material and references collected in this Journal, 29 : 164-166, it may be added that Cox reports nine variants from West Virginia (45: 160; JAFL 29 :400); B. L. Jones (p. 5), one from Michigan; and Perrow, one from Kentucky (letter of Feb. 12, 1914). Compare also Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 2, pp. 3, 6; No. 3, p. 5; No. 4, PP. 4, 8; No. 5, p. 8; "Berea Quarterly," October, 1915 (18: 12). Belden has three variants. See also Sharp, "One Hundred English Folksongs," No. 8, pp. xx-xxi, 22-23.
THE HUNTING OF THE CHEVIOT (Child, No. 162).
In this Journal, 18 : 294, Barry notes a broadside of " Chevy Chace"
printed by N. Coverly, Jr., Boston (early nineteenth century), and
gives the tune from a Newburyport (Mass.) manuscript of 1790.
"The Death of Old Tenor," a Massachusetts song of 1750, is to the
tune of "Chevy Chace" (Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings,
20:30). The Harvard College Library has a broadside (apparently
American) of "Chevy Chace" (25242.53 1312]) dating from
the eighteenth century.
THE GYPSY LADDIE (Child, No. 200).
For American copies see Child, 4 : 71-73; JAFL 18: 191-195;
19 :294-295; 24 :346-348; 25 : 173-175; 26 :353; G. B. Woods,
"Modern Language Notes," December, 1912 (reprinted in "The
Miami Student," Jan. 9, 1913); McGill, "Folk-Songs from the,
Kentucky Mountains," 1917, pp. 14-17. One stanza from West
Virginia (Child's J, st. I) is printed by Cox, 44 : 428 (with a burden),
two texts are reported by him (45 : 16o; JAFL 29 : 400). Compare
Belden, No. Io; Pound, p. Io; F. C. Brown, p. 9; Virginia Folk-Lore
Society, Bulletin, No. 3, P. 5; No. 5, p. 8; JAFL 22 :80; 27: 59,
62-63; 28 : 200-202; Dr. Bertrand L. Jones has found the ballad
in Michigan. The lady repents in a text printed in "Arlington's
Banjo Songster" (Philadelphia, cop. 186o), pp. 47-48.
The ordinary English broadside version (Child's Gb) is different.
See the following Harvard broadsides,1 all of which agree closely in
text: 25242.17, ii, 21 (G. Walker, Jr., Durham); ii, 171 (Carbutt,
Tadeaster); ii, 191 (Forth, Bridlington; same in iii, 19); iv, 131 (J.
Gilbert, Newcastle-upon-Tyne); iv, 208 bis (Forth, Pocklington);
25242.5.6 (161), No. 9 (= 25242.27, P. 211); 25242.25, P. 37 (Pitts);
so in "A Garland" (E. Sergent), 25276.43.58, No. 21. Similar is the
text in Gillington and Sellars, "Songs of the Open Road," No. 7,
pp. 16-17; their No. 5 (pp. 12-13) differs.
"The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies," a version now in oral circulation
in England,2 with a pleasing tune, is likely to become current per ora
virum in this country from the singing of the Fuller Sisters and
others. Collectors in search of American texts should take notice and
examine pedigrees when this turns up anywhere.
For copies of "The Gypsy Laddie" ("The Gypsy Davy"), revised
or altered with comic intent, see Belden, JAFL 25 : 171 (fragment);
broadside, H. de Marsan, New York, List 3, Song 28 (Brown Univer-
1 Such's broadside No. 46 (25242.17, xi, 46) varies from these.
2 See Sharp and Marson, Folk-Songs from Somerset, No. 9, I : 18-I9 (cf. p. 61).
Sharp, One Hundred English Folksongs, No. 5, pp. xviii, 13-16; Baring-Gould MS;
(Harvard College Library), p. 5; cf. Notes and Queries, IIth series, I8 : 176 (1913).
324 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
sity); De Witt's "Forget-Me-Not Songster," p. 223; Hooley's
"Opera House Songster," p. 46.
The Gypsy Davy.
From Mrs. William L. R. Gifford, 1914, as remembered from the
singing of Mrs. Catharine Bonney Dexter in Rochester, Mass., about
1872. Mrs. Dexter was born in 1832, and died in 1898. She learned
the ballad from her mother, Mrs. James Ruggles (born Toppan),
who came from Newburyport, Mass. This is a variant of Child's
version J (Maine and Massachusetts).
My lord came home quite late one night, In - quir - ing for his
la - - dy. The ser - vant made him this re - ply: "She's
REFRAIN.
gone with a Gyp - sy Da - vy. Rad-dle dad-die din - go
__ _ _ _ -
-
_
_.
din - go day, Rad-dle dad- dle din - go da - - vy, The
,or _ I I I ---- 4-9
ser-vant made him this re -ply: "She's gone with a Gyp - sy Da - vy."
I. My lord came home quite late one night,
Inquiring for his lady.
The servant made him this reply:
"She's gone with a Gypsy Davy."
Raddle daddle dingo day,
Raddle daddle dingo davy.
The servant made him this reply:
"She's gone with a Gypsy Davy."
2. "Go saddle for me the white," said he,
"The brown is not so speedy.
I'll ride all night and I'll ride all day
Till I find my charming lady."
Raddle daddle, etc.
Ballads and Songs. 325
3. My lord rode down by the water's side,
The waters there flowed freely;
The tears were trickling down his cheeks,
For there he spied his lady.
Raddle daddle, etc.
4. "Will you forsake your house and lands?
Will you forsake your baby?
Will you forsake your own true love
And go with a Gypsy Davy?"
Raddle daddle, etc.
5. " I care not for my house and lands?
I care not for my baby,
I care not for my own true love,
And I'll go with a Gypsy Davy."
Raddle daddle dingo day,
Raddle daddle dingo davy.
"I care not for my own true love,
And I'll go with a Gypsy Davy."
BESSY BELL AND MARY GRAY (Child, No. 201).
A fragment of two stanzas from West Virginia is printed by Cox (44:428; cf. 45 : I60, JAFL 29 : 400). The ballad is reported from Virginia by Professor C. Alphonso Smith, Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 5, p. 8 ("Musical Quarterly," January, 1916).
JAMES HARRIS (THE D/EMON LOVER) (Child, No. 243).
In 1858 Child, in his first collection of ballads, noted that this ballad "is printed in Philadelphia as a penny broadside, called The
House Carpenter," and quoted two stanzas of this broadside from "Graham's Magazine." I The passage in the magazine is interesting on account of its statement that "many old English songs . . . are reprinted in this country in a mutilated form." [2] The broadside in question Child was never able to procure; but in 1904 the same version was found by Barry in one of H. de Marsan's broadsides;[3] and since its publication in this Journal (18: 207-209), it has turned up rather often in oral circulation, sometimes of long standing. The de Marsan broadside, by the way, is a re-issue of one published by J. Andrews of New York (whom de Marsan succeeded in business) in 1857 or thereabout.
1 English and Scottish Ballads, 5 (1858): vi-vii (Additions and Corrections). See
also Child's final collection, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 4 : 36o.
2 Graham's Illustrated Magazine, Philadelphia, September, 1858 (53 : 277).
3 Modern Language Notes, 19 : 238.
4 The Andrews broadside (List 5, Song 90o) is in the Harris Collection (Brown University).
For American oral copies see JAFL 19 : 295-297 (Belden, Missouri); 120 :257-258 (Miss Pettit, Kentucky); 25: 274-275 (Barry, Pennsylvania); 26: 352, 360-361 (Miss Pound, from Illinois by way of Nebraska).[2] A fragment of thirteen lines from Virginia is printed in "The Focus," 4: 162, and other Virginia variants are reported by C. Alphonso Smith (Bulletin, No. 3, p. 5; No. 4, PP. 4, 8; No. 5, p. 9), as well as texts from North and South Carolina (Bulletin, No. 2, p. 6). Professor Smith gives two tunes in the "Musical Quarterly" for January, 1916. F. C. Brown (p. 9) reports the ballad from North Carolina, and Mr. W. R. Taylor has communicated a copy from that State. Mrs. John C. Campbell has a copy from Georgia, as well as copies from Kentucky. Shearin and Coombs reported Kentucky variants in 1911 (p. 8)." Professor Reed Smith reports the ballad from South Carolina (JAFL 27: 63; cf. 28 :200-202). Cox prints a good text from West Virginia (44: 388-389), and reports several variants (44 :388; 45: 159; JAFL 29: 400). Texts from Kentucky have been communicated by Miss Loraine Wyman and Mr. Wallace C. Wadsworth, and one from Missouri by Professor Belden (from Mrs. Eva Warner Case).[4]
Baring-Gould took down a long text of this ballad (from singing) at Holcombe Burnell, Devon, in 1890 (Baring-Gould MS., Harvard College Library, pp. 95-96, 98). Three stanzas of another variant are printed in the "Journal of the Folk-Song Society," 3:84, where Mr. Sharp observes that the theme "is allied to Jemmie and Nancy of Yarmouth." As to the latter piece (also known as "The Yarmouth Tragedy; or, The Constant Lovers," and common in broadsides and garlands), see JAFL 26 : 178.6
1 Belden's Partial List, No. ii; cf. Modern Philology, 2 : 575. He now has seven variants.
2 Compare JAFL 27 : 59; Pound, p. 10.
3 Compare Shearin, Modern Language Quarterly, 6 : 514; Sewanee Review, July, 1911.
See also Berea Quarterly, October, 1915 (18 : 12, 17).
The tunes sent in by Miss Wyman and Mrs. Case are given on p. 327.
5 Additional references for the printing of "The Yarmouth Tragedy" in this country are: an American broadside of about 1830-40 without imprint, "Jemmy and Nancy" (Harvard College, "I916, lot 12"); The American Songster, [edited and published] by John Kenedy, Baltimore, 1836, pp. 193-200 ("Jemmy and Nancy"); the same, Cornish, Lamport & Co., 1851, PP. 193-200 (also New York, Nafis & Cornish); The Pearl Songster, New York, C. P. Huestis, 1846, pp. Iog et seq. (Brown University); The New American Songster, Philadelphia, D. Dickinson, 1817, pp. 59-66 (Brown University). For Great Britain add the following Harvard broadsides -- 25242.19, ii, 21, " The Yarmouth Tragedy; or, The Constant Lovers" (John Evans); 25242.31 PF (Stonecutter Street, Fleet Market); 25242.58, fol. 37, "Jemmy and Nancy of Yarmouth" (no imprint)- and the following garlands: 25276.43.5 (Newry, 1790); 25276.43.23, No. 3 (Glasgow); 25276.43-58, No. 76 (Preston, E. Sergent). Compare Ashton, Real Sailor Songs, No. 64; Crawford Catalogue, No. 783; Ebsworth, Roxburghe Ballads, 8: 181.
(From Miss Wyman.)
"Well met, well met,.... my own true love,.... Well
met, well met,".. said he;..... "I've just re - turned from the
old salt sea,.... And it's all for the sake... of... thee."..
(From Mrs. Case.)
"Well met, well met, my own true love, Well met, well met," said
he, "I've just re - turned from the salt bri - ny deep, And it's
all for the love of... thee; I've just re - turned from the
salt bri - ny deep, And it's all for the love of... thee."
HENRY MARTYN (Child, No. 250).
For American texts see Child, 4:395; 5:302-303; JAFL 18:
135-136 (Barry), 302-303; 25: 171-173 ("Andy Bardan," Belden,
Kentucky). The ballad is reported from South Carolina by Professor
Reed Smith (JAFL 27 :63) and from West Virginia by Professor Cox
(45 :
I60; JAFL 29 : 400).
For recent English tradition see Broadwood, "English Traditional
Songs and Carols," pp. 30-31; Kidson, "Traditional Tunes," pp. 29-
32; Baring-Gould and Sheppard, "Songs of the West," No. 53, 3 : 2-3;
"Journal of the Folk-Song Society," I : 44, 162-163; 4 301-303;
Sharp, "One Hundred English Folksongs," No. I, pp. xvii, I-3.
Harvard College has the piece in a number of broadsides: 25242.
10.5, fol. 6 (Bebbington, Manchester); 25242.17, iii, Ioo00 (J. Forth,
Pocklington, No. I46); v, 194 (Rial & Co.); x, I36 (Bebbington).
328 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
OUR GOODMAN (Child, No. 274).
To the references given by Tolman and Kittredge in this Journal,
29: 166-167, add: Cox, 45:58, 92 (two copies printed from West
Virginia), I6o (cf. JAFL 29:400); Reed Smith (JAFL 27:62, 63;
28:200-202); Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 2, p. 6;
No. 3, P. 5; No. 4, p. 8; No. 5, P.9; F. C. Brown, p. 9; B. L. Jones,
"Folk-Lore in Michigan," p. 5.'1 A version with indecorous extensions
has obtained wide currency in America.
THE WIFE WRAPT IN WETHER'S SKIN (Child, No. 277).
A good version from Massachusetts, traceable to the early years of
the nineteenth century, was printed in 1894 in this Journal (7 :253-
255), and reprinted by Child (5 :304). Other texts are given by
Belden (from Missouri) in JAFL 19:298 (cf. his List, No. 12) and
Cox (45 : 92-93; cf. 45 : 159, JAFL 29 :400). Compare Shearin and
Coombs, p. 8 (Shearin, "Modern Language Review," 6: 514); F. C.
Brown, p. 9; Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 4, p. 8; No. 5,
p. 9; Reed Smith (JAFL 27 :62).
For recent British tradition see Ford, "Vagabond Songs," 2 : 185-
187; Gavin Greig, "Folk-Song of the North-East," cxxii; Broadwood
and Fuller Maitland, "English County Songs," pp. 92-93; "Journal
of the Folk-Song Society," I :223-225 (with references); Sharp,
"Folk-Songs from Somerset," No. 97, 4:52-53 ("One Hundred
English Folksongs," No. 70, pp. xxxv-xxxvi, 158-159).
A good text from Harrison County, Missouri, with the tune, has
been communicated by Professor Belden, to whom it was sent by Mrs.
Eva Warner Case in 1916. Mrs. Case wrote the ballad down from
memory, with the assistance of her mother and grandmother.2 This
version is similar to that printed in JAFL 7 : 253-255 (Child, 5 : 304),
but shows many slight variations. The stanzas run even with that
version, and the burden is substantially identical. The first four
stanzas are as follows:--
I. Sweet William he married him a wife,
(Jennifer, June, and the rosymaree)
To be the sweet comfort of his life
(As the dew flies over the green vallee).
2. It's she couldn't into the kitchen go,
For fear of soiling her white-heeled shoes.
3. It's she couldn't wash, and it's she wouldn't bake,
For fear of soiling her white apron-tape.
1 An English broadside text (in the Scottish dialect) without imprint (but before 1831)
is in the Harvard College Library (25242.I8, No. 4).
2 See p. 322.
Ballads and Songs. 329
4. It's she couldn't card and it's she wouldn't spin,
For fear of spoiling her delicate skin.
THE FARMER'S CURST WIFE (Child, No. 278).
Belden printed a text from Missouri in JAFL 19:298-299; and
Barry has since published three copies, - two from Massachusetts
and one from Maine (JAFL 24:348-349; 27:68), - but none of
these are complete. A curious version (without the devil) may be
found in Lomax, "Cowboy Songs," pp. IIO-III ("The Old Man
under the Hill"). Texts are reported from Virginia by C. Alphonso
Smith, Bulletin, No. 4, p. 8; No. 5, P. 9. Reed Smith reports the
ballad from South Carolina (JAFL 28: 201). Miss Josephine McGill,
in a brief paper on the "Survival of the English Folk Ballad" (in the
Louisville "Courier-Journal" for Jan. 14, 1917),V quotes the concluding
couplet-stanze of a Kentucky version: -
She was seven years going, and seven coming back,
But she asked for the baccy she'd left in the crack.
This recalls the end of the Scottish text in Child (version B), -
She was seven year gaun, and seven year comin,
And she cried for the sowens 2 she left in the pot.
For recent English tradition see "Journal of the Folk-Song Society,"
2 : 184-185; 3:131-132 (and references). The Harvard College
Library has the piece in a slip issued by Pitts, "The Sussex Farmer"
(25242.25, P. 97).
The Old Woman and the Devil.
Communicated by Professor Belden. From Mrs. Edward Schaaf,
St. Mary's, Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri, 1914.
I. The good old man went out to plow
Sing tory a loo, walked out to plow,
Up stepped the old devil, "How are you now?
Sing tory a loo, how are you now?
2. "It's one of your family I have come for,
Sing tory a loo, that I have come for.
3. "It is neither you nor your eldest son;
It is your old scolding wife, she is the one."
1 In a series of articles on Kentucky folk-lore published in the Courier-Journal on the
second Sunday of every month, under the auspices of the Kentucky Folk-Lore Society.
Oatmeal soured and then boiled thick.
330 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
4. "Take her and welcome, with all your heart!
I hope to my soul you will never part."
5. He picked her up upon his back,
Like an old bald eagle went off in a tack.
6. He had not gotten more than half his road,
Before he said, "Old woman, you are a hell of a load."
7. He set her down all for to rest;
She up with a stick and hit him her best.
8. He picked her up upon her back,
Like an old bald eagle, went offt in a rack.
9. He travelled on until he came to his gate;
He gave her a kick, said "There is your place."
Io. Ten little devils strung on a wire;
She up with her foot and kicked nine in the fire.
i 1. One little devil peeping over the wall
Sang " Daddy take her back, she'll murder us all."
12. The good old man was peeping out of a crack;
Here came the devil wagging her back.
13. "Now, old man, see what a woman can do;
She can rout her husband and kill devils too.
14. "Now, old woman, on earth you must dwell;
You are not fit for heaven, and they won't have you in hell."
THE SWEET TRINITY (THE GOLDEN VANITY) (Child, No. 286).
To Child's version B belongs the Vermont text ("The Little Cabin Boy") printed in JAFL 18: 125-127 (cf. 18: 127). To Child's
version C belong Belden, No. 78 (JAFL 23:429-430); "Focus," 4: 158-159; Wyman and Brockway, "Lonesome Tunes," I : 72-75;
McGill, "Folk-Songs from the Kentucky Mountains," pp. 96-102. See also Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 3, P-. 5; No. 4, P. 8; F. C. Brown, p. 9; Cox, 45:I 16 (JAFL 29:400); Shearin and Coombs, p. 9 (Shearin, "Modern Language Review," 6 : 514); " Berea Quarterly," October, 1915 (18 : I8); Reed Smith (JAFL 28 : 200-202). Dr. B. L. Jones has found the ballad in Michigan.
The ballad is common in modern English broadsides, usually under the title of "The Golden Vanity; or, The Lowlands Low." See
Harvard collection: 25242.11.5, fol. 107 (Such; same in 25242.17, xi, 31, and among the Child Broadsides); 25242.17, iii, 46 (J. Easton, York); same, iii, 150 (Forth, Pocklington); iv, 124 (J. Gilbert, Newcastle-upon-Tyne); v, 68 (J. Cadman, Manchester); x, 207; (J. Bebbington, Manchester). These broadsides are all alike, corresponding to Child's version C; (Pitts). Closely similar are copies from recent singing in England, a number of which are noted by Child, (5: 137-138); see also Broadwood and Fuller Maitland, "English County Songs," pp. 182-183; Baring-Gould and Sheppard, "Songs of the West," No. 64, 3:24-25; "Journal of Folk-Song Society," I : 10o4-10o5; 2 : 244; Sharp, "One Hundred English Folksongs," No. 14, pp. xxiii, 36-37.2 Greig's variant, however, in "Folk-Song of the North-East," cxvi, belongs under Child's B. Ashton's copy, in "Real Sailor Songs," No. 75, is Child's A.
The Merry Golden Tree.
Communicated by Professor Belden, 1916. From Mrs. Eva Warner Case, from memory, with the assistance of her mother and grandmother, as sung in Harrison County, Missouri.[3] This copy is noteworthy because of the poetical justice offered in the concluding stanza, which distinguishes it from all versions heretofore recorded.[4] The text belongs in general to version C, but it has a special touch of its own: -
Down went the vessel and down went the crew,
And down to join the cabin-boy went the captain too!
Finis coronat opus!
1. "0 captain, dear captain, what will you give to me,
If I'll sink for you that ship called the Merry Golden Tree,
As she sails in the Lowlands lonesome low,
As she sails in the Lowlands low?"
2. "It's I will give you money and I will give you fee;
I have a lovely daughter I will marry unto thee,
If you'll sink her in the Lowlands lonesome low,
If you'll sink her in the Lowlands low."
3. He bent upon his breast and out swam he;
He swam until he came to the Merry Golden Tree,
As she sailed in the Lowlands lonesome low,
As she sailed in the Lowlands low.
4. He took with him an auger well fitted for the use,
And he bored nine holes in the bottom of the sloop,
As she sailed in the Lowlands lonesome low,
As she sailed in the Lowlands low.
5. He bent upon his breast and back swam he;
He swam until he came to the Turkish Revelry,
As she sailed in the Lowlands lonesome low,
As she sailed in the Lowlands low.
6. "Captain, 0 captain, take me up on board;
For if you'don't, you've surely broke your word,
For I've sunk her in the Lowlands lonesome low,
For I've sunk her in the Lowlands low."
7. "It's I'll neither give you money, now will I give you fee,
Nor yet my lovely daughter will I marry unto thee,
You may sink in the Lowlands lonesome low,
You may sink in the Lowlands low."
8. He bent upon his breast and down sank he
Right alongside of the Turkish Revelry,
And he sunk her in the Lowlands lonesome low,
And he sunk her in the Lowlands low.
9. Down went the vessel, and down went the crew,
And down to join the cabin-boy went the captain too,
And sunk in the Lowlands lonesome low,
And sunk in the Lowlands low.
1 Reprinted sumptuously, New York, 1899 ("The Golden Vanity and The Green Bed"), with colored illustrations.
2 Compare Masefield, A Sailor's Garland, pp. 149-152.
3 See p. 322.
4 Compare Child's remarks on his versions B and C as distinguished from version A (5: I36).
CAPTAIN WARD AND THE RAINBOW (Child, No. 287).
Barry reprinted "Captain Ward" in this Journal (18: 137-138) from a Boston Broadside ("Captain Ward, the Pirate") of the early
nineteenth century (N. Coverly, Jr.): A fragment from Michigan contributed by Dr. Alma Blount (JAFL 25 : 177-178) sticks in some points more closely than Coverly to the black-letter text. The ballad was also issued as a broadside in Boston about 1825 ("Cor. of Cross and Tilton sts.": Harvard College, 25242.5.5 [1251, p. 9) and in a chapbook ("Captain Ward and the Rainbow," etc.) in Philadelphia by R. Swift, about 1820-30 (25276.43.81). It is included in "The Forget Me Not Songster" (New York, Nafis & Cornish), pp. 41-44; the same (Philadelphia and New York, Turner & Fisher), pp. 200-203; and "The Pearl Songster," 1846 (New York, C. P. Huestis), pp. 136-139 (Brown University).
The Harvard College Library has two eighteenth-century broadsides of this ballad, - 25242-5.5 (176) (Pitts); 25242.23, p. II,-
also H. P. Such's broadside, No. 501, "Ward the Pirate" (25242.26, p. 54). See also Greig, "Folk-Song of the North-East," cxiv, cxvii, cxxviii; Ashton, "Real Sailor Songs," No. 3; Kidson, "Traditional Tunes," p. 99; Barrett, "English Folk-Songs," No. 36, pp. 62-63; "Journal of the Folk-Song Society," 2: 163-I64.
THE MERMAID (No. 289).
A fragmentary American text (with tune) was published by Barry
in JAFL 18 : 136 (from Vermont), as taken down in 19o5 (cf. 22 : 78);
a good copy (from Missouri), collected by Belden, is in 25 : 176-177;
another (from Tennessee), in "The Focus," 3 : 447-448 and (with
tune) 4:97-99.' Miss McGill gives words and music in her "Folk-
Songs of the Kentucky Mountains" (1917, pp. 45-49). The ballad
is also reported from Virginia (Bulletin, No. 2, p. 6; No. 3, P. 5; No.
4, P. 9; No. 5, P. 9);2 from Mississippi by Perrow (JAFL 27:61,
note 2); from Nebraska by Miss Pound (p. Io).
"The Mermaid" doubtless owes much of its currency in America
to its inclusion in various "songsters." It is found, for example,
in "The Forget Me Not Songster" (New York, Nafis & Cornish;
also St. Louis and Philadelphia), p. 79; "Pearl Songster" (New
York, I846), p. 155; "Uncle Sam's Naval and Patriotic Songster"
(New York, Philip J. Cozans), pp. 40o-43. It was issued as a
broadside by Leonard A. Deming about 1838-40 ("at the Sign of the
Barber's Pole, No. 61 Hanover St. Boston and at Middlebury, Vt.":
Harvard College, 1916, lot 12), and by H. de Marsan, New York
(List 14, No. 56), about 1861. Its perpetuation is more or less
insured by its inclusion in "Heart Songs" (Boston, 1909).4
A fragmentary text, taken down by Kittredge in I878 from an old
Massachusetts lady who had learned it about I8o8, has the first
stanza of Child's version A (5: 149), which is lacking in all other
versions, British or American, so far as has been ascertained.5 At all
events, it does not occur in any of those here registered, or in any of
the following English broadside copies: Ebsworth, in his Roxburghe
Ballads, 8 : 446-447; Harvard College, 25242.4, i, 207 (J. Arthur,
Carlisle); 25242.17, iii, 36 and 102 (John Harkness, Preston, No. 146);
same, iv, I6 (John Gilbert, Newcastle-upon-Tyne), 147 (John Ross,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne); v, 141 (J. Catnach); xi, 53 (H. Such, No. 53);
25242.28 (Pitts). Perhaps this stanza was adapted from the beginning
of Martin Parker's famous "Neptune's Raging Fury" (Roxburghe
Ballads, ed. Ebsworth, 6 : 432; Ashton, "Real Sailor Songs,"
No. 76; Masefield, "A Sailor's Garland," pp. 16O-163).
1 Compare Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 2, p. 6.
2 The ballad is printed in A. F. Wilson's Songs of the University of Virginia, 1906.
3 There is a comic version in The "'We Won't Go Home till Morning " Songster (New
York, R. M. DeWitt), pp. 8-9.
4 Whence it is extracted in the Boston Transcript, Feb. 14, 1914.
6 Except the variety of A in " The Sailor's Caution" cited by Child (5 : 148). Ashton's
second version (Real Sailor Songs, No. 42) is Child's A; his first (No. 41) accords with
the regular broadside.
334 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
CHARMING BEAUTY BRIGHT.
"Once I did court a fair beauty bright" is published in this Journal
(26 : 176-177) from Massachusetts tradition of long standing. Perrow
gives a copy from Mississippi (JAFL 28: 147); Tolman, one from
Indiana (29: I84-185, "The Lover's Lament"). What seems to be
a fragment of this song is printed in "Journal of the Folk-Song
Society," 2:81. Miss Loraine Wyman has communicated a text
("Charming Beauty Bright") collected by her at Beaver Creek,
Knott County, Kentucky, in 1916, which closely resembles that from
Mississippi (see below). She also contributes three tunes (see below).
CharmingB eauty Bright.
Communicated by Miss Loraine Wyman, as sung by Rob and Julia
Morgan, Beaver Creek, Knott County, Kentucky.
Once I.. lov'd a.. charming beau - ty bright, And on her
d
• .,. . "t • , t .....• .r• • • ----+-•
[I....... placed my own heart's de - light,.. I court-ed her for
u
---uw - J--• - •• F -
love.... and love I did ob - tain,......... I'm sure.....
That she had no rea - sons to.. me to com-plain.
0"
Once I court - ed a charm - ing beau - ty bright, And on her I
pla- ced my own heart'sdelight, I... courted her for love, and love I did obtain,
I'm sure that she had no rea - sons to.. me to complain.
Ballads and Songs. 335
III.
V-lo
&..t
I-1
K
Once I.. court- ed a charminbge au-tyb right, On her I placedm y..
own heart's de - light, I court - ed her for love, and
love did ob-tain, I'm suret hats he'dn o rea-s ons to me to complain.
i. Once I courted a charming beauty bright,
And on her I plachd my own heart's delight;
I courted her for love, and love I did obtain;
I'm sure that she had no reasons to me to complain.
2. Her old parents were against it, they came this for to know,
They strove to part us both by day and by night;
They locked her all in her chamber and kept her concealed,
And I never got a sight of my love any more.
3. One day to the window she Wvafso rcMdto go,
To see if her true love endured yet or no;
He lifted up his head with his eyes shining bright,
For his only thoughts were of his heart's delight.
4. And then to the army he was forced to go;
Seven years he served there; in seven years he returned back again;
And when her old mother saw him coming, she wrung her hands and cried,
Saying, "0 once my daughter loved you and for your sake has died."
5. Then he was taken like a man going to be slain,
And the tears fell from his eyes like big drops of rain,
Saying, "O where be her grave? 0 I wish mine were there too!"
THE DILLY SONG.
"The Dilly Song" was discussed in a learned paper by Mr. Newell
in 1891, - "The Carol of the Twelve Numbers" (JAFL 4: 215-220).
He gives two texts, one from Massachusetts and one from New York,
the latter coming from certain Cornish miners. Compare Barry, No.
68 ("The Twelve Apostles"); Shearin and Coombs, p. 34 (text
printed).
For British tradition see Robert Chambers, "Popular Rhymes of
Scotland" (I870), pp. 44-47 (Buchan's MS.) (ed. 1842, pp. 50-51);
Mrs. Gutch, "County Folk-Lore," 6 (East Riding of Yorkshire
336 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
[Folk-Lore Society]) : 183-184; S. O. Addy, "Household Tales with
other Traditional Remains" (1896), pp. 148-151; Baring-Gould and
Sheppard, "Songs of the West," pp. 52-53; Baring-Gould, "A Book
of Nursery Songs and Rhymes," pp. 62-64, No. 50o; M. E. G., "The
Old Nursery Rhymes, or The Merrie Heart" (5th ed.), pp. 179-182;
Broadwood and Fuller Maitland, "English County Songs," pp. 154-
159 (" The Twelve Apostles"); Charles Kent, "The Land of the Babes
in the Wood" (1910), pp. 77-79; "Notes and Queries," Ist series, 9:
325; 4th series, 2 : 324, 452, 599-600; 3 : 90; 10 : 412-413, 499-500;
6th series, 12 :484-485; 7th series, I :96 (cf. II8-II9, 206), 315-316,
413-414 (cf. 7 : 264, 438, 495); IIth series, 9 : 250; Andrew Lang,
"Longman's Magazine," 13 :327-330 (cf. 439-441, 556-557); W. H.
Long, "Dictionary of the Isle of Wight Dialect," pp. 152-154; Sharp,
"One Hundred English Folksongs," No. 97, pp. xlii-xliv, 226-229
("The Ten Commandments"); Lina Eckstein, "Comparative Studies
in Nursery Rhymes," pp. 152 et seg.
The version printed below, though it stops with seven, shows many
points of intertst, particularly in its odd changes at the hands of
tradition.
Come and I Will Sing You; or, The Dilly Song.
From Miss Loraine Wyman, as sung by L. E. Meece, 1916, Pulaski
County, Kentucky. As to the tune, Miss Wyman writes that there
"are slight melodic changes" for each stanza.
"Oh, come and I will sing you." "What will you sing me?"
"I will sing a one." "And what shall be your one?"
"One of them is one that sings,'It's hard to be a - lone."'
I. "Come and I will sing you."
"What will you sing me?"
"I will sing you a one."
"And what shall be your one?"
"One of them is one that sings
' It's hard to be alone.' "
2. "I will sing you a two."
"And what shall be your two?"
Ballads and Songs. 337
"Two are the little old babes,
Dressed all in green,
And one of them is one that sings
' It's hard to be alone.' "
3. "I will sing you a three."
"And what shall be your three?"
"Three of them are drivers;
Two of them are little old babes
Dressed all in green,
And one of them is one that sings
'It's hard to be alone.'"
4. "I will sing you a four."
"And what shall be your four?"
"Four are the gospel-makers;
Three of them are drivers;
Two are the little old babes
Dressed all in green,
And one of them is one that sings
' It's hard to be alone.' "
5. "I will sing you a five."
"And what shall be your five?"
Five are the shining stars;
Four are the gospel makers;
Three of them are drivers;
Two of them are the little old babes
Dressed all in green,
And one of them is one that sings
'It's hard to be alone.' "
6. "I will sing you a six."
"And what shall be your six?"
"Six of them disciples;
Five are the shining stars;
Four are the gospel-makers;
Three of them are drivers;
Two are the little old babes
Dressed all in green,
And one of them is one that sings
'It's hard to be alone.' "
7. "I will sing you a seven."
"And what shall be your seven?"
"Seven to seven went to heaven;
Six of them disciples;
Five are the shining stars;
Four are the gospel-makers;
Three of them are drivers;
Two are the little old babes
Dressed all in green,
And one of them is one that sings
' It's hard to be alone.' "
THE DROWSY SLEEPER.
"The Drowsy Sleeper" was printed in this Journal in 1907[1] from a copy collected by Miss Pettit in Kentucky (20: 260-261), and
attention was called to its connection with a Nithsdale song given in part by Allan Cunningham in his edition of Burns, 1834 (4:285), as well as with a Sussex song and a Catnach broadside. In 1908 Belden printed three versions, two from Missouri and one from Arkansas, in Herrig's "Archiv," 119: 430-431. Other copies have since come in; and these are worth publishing, not only because of the literary relations of the piece, but also because of the curious varieties in which it occurs and its mixture with other songs.
The English song published by Sharp under the title of "Arise, Arise" ("Folk-Songs from Somerset," No. 99, 4: 56-57; "One Hundred English Folksongs," No. 47, pp. 106-107), is related to "The Drowsy Sleeper." Stanza I (Sharp) corresponds to stanza I of version III (p. 341, below); stanza 2, to stanzas 3 and 4; stanza 3, to stanza 5; Sharp's stanza 5 resembles Miss Wyman's stanza 8 (p. 340, below), and his eighth stanza agrees with the last stanza of Belden's version II ("Archiv," 119: 431). Sharp's version agrees pretty closely with the Catnach broadside entitled "The Drowsy Sleeper" (Harvard College, 25242.2, fol. 172). See also "Journal of Folk-Song Society, " I: 269-270 ("O who is that that raps at my window?"). The conclusion of versions IV and V (below) shows admixture of "The Silver Dagger;" [2] and this is true also of a broadside text of "The Drowsy Sleeper," published by H. J. Wehman, New York (No. 518, "Who's at My Bedroom Window?" Harvard College Library).
I. The Drowsy Sleeper.
Communicated by Professor Belden, 1916. From Mrs. Eva Warner Case, as written down from memory, with the assistance of her, mother and grandmother (Harrison County, Missouri).[3] This is very similar to the third version published by Belden in Herrig's " Archiv " (I19 : 43I).[4]
[music]
I. "Awake, awake, you drowsy sleeper,
Awake, awake, 'tis almost day!
How can you bear for to lie and slumber
When your true lover is going away?
How can you bear for to lie and slumber
When your true lover is going away?"
2. "Go way, go way, you'll wake my mother,
And that will be sad news for me;
You must go way and court some other,
For she is all the world to me.
You must, etc.
3. " Go way, go way, you'll wake my father;
He now lies on his bed of rest,
And in his hand he holds a dagger
For to kill the one that I love best.
And in his hand, etc.
4. "Go fetch to me both pen and paper,
That I may set me down and write.
I'll tell you of the grief and sorrow
That trouble me both day and night.
I'll tell you, etc.
5. "I wish I were a little swallow,
Or else some lonesome turtle dove;
I'd fly away over hills of sorrow
And light upon some land of love,
I'd fly away, etc.
6. "In yonder field go stick an arrow:
I wish the same was in my breast;
I'd bid adieu to sin and sorrow,
And my poor soul would be at rest.
I'd bid adieu, etc.
7. "Go dig my grave in yonder meadow;
Place marble stones at my head and feet,
And on my breast a turtle dove,
To show the world that I died for love,
And on my breast," etc.
II. The Drowsy Sleeper.
From Miss Loraine Wyman, 1916, as sung by Mary Ann Bagley, Pine Mountain, Kentucky, May, 1916.
1. "Awake, awake, you drowsy sleeper;
Awake, arise, it's almost day.
]low can you bear to sleep and slumber,
Vhen your old true love is going away?"
2. "Who's this, who's this at my bedroom window,
That calls for me so earnestly?"
"Lie low, lie low; it's your own true lover:
Awake, arise, and go with me."
3. "Go, love, go and ask your mother
If you my bride can ever be;
If she says no, come back and tell me,
It's the very last time I'll trouble thee."
4. " I dare not go and ask my mother,
Or let her know you are so near;
For in her hand she holds a letter
Against the one I love so dear."
5. "Go, love, go and ask your father
If you my bride can ever be;
If he says no, come back and tell me,
It's the very last time I'll trouble you."
6. "I dare not go and ask my father,
For he lies on his bed of rest,
And by his side lies a deadly weapon
To kill the one that I love best."
7. "I'll set my boat for some distant river,
And I will sail from side to side;
I'll eat nothing but weeping willows
And I'll drink nothing but my tears."
8. "Come back, come back, 0 distracted lover!
Come back, come back," said she;
"I'll forsake my father and mother
And I will run away with thee."
9. "0 Mary, loving Mary, you've almost broke my heart;
You caused me to shed many a tear;
From South Carolina to Pennsylvania
My weeks and years with you I'll spend."
III. The Drowsy Sleeper.
From Professor Louise Pound, 1916. "Brought to Nebraska in a manuscript book of ballads from Indiana, the property of Edna
Fulton of Havelock, Nebraska."
I. "Arouse, arouse, ye drowsy sleepers;
Arouse, arouse, 'tis almost day:
Open your door, your dining-room window,
And hear what your true lover say."
2. "What is this that comes under my window,
A-speaking to me thus speedily?"
"It is your Jimmy, your own true Jimmy,
A-waiting to speak one word with thee."
3. "Go away from my window; you'll waken my father,
For he's taking of his rest;
Under his pillow there lies a wepon,
To pierce the man that I love best.
4. "Go away from my window; you'll waken my mother,
For tales of war she will not hear;
Go away and court some other,
Or whisper lowly in my ear."
5. "I won't go away and court any other,
For here I do no harm;
I only want you from your own dear mother,
To wrap you in your lover's arms.
6. "I wish I was down in some lonesome valey,
Where I could neather see nor hear:
My food it should be grief and sorrow,
My drink it would be the briny tear.
7. "Down in a valley there lies a sharp arrow:
I wish I had it across my breast;
It would cut off all grief and sorrow
And lay this troubled heart to rest."
IV.
From Dr. Alma Blount of the State Normal College, Ypsilanti, Mich., March 12, 1914, as learned (about fifteen years before) by
Miss Myrtle Stalker of Cheboygan, Mich., from a maid in the family, thought to be Irish.
I. "Ah, Mary dear, go ask your mother
If you my wedded wife can be;
If she says no, return and tell me,
And I'll no longer trouble thee."
2. "I dare not go and ask my mother,
For she is bound to set us free;
So, Willie dear, go seek another -
There's prettier girls in the world than me."
3. "Ah, Mary dear, go ask your father
If you my wedded wife can be;
If he says no, return and tell me,
And I'll no longer trouble thee."
4. " I dare not go and ask my father,
For he is on his bed of rest,
And beside him lies the silver dagger,
To pierce the heart that I love best."
5. So Willie took the silver dagger
And pierced it through his aching heart,
Saying, "Adieu, adieu to you, kind Mary;
Adieu, adieu, now we must part."
6. So Mary took the bloody dagger
And pierced it through her snow-white breast,
Saying, "Adieu, adieu, to you, cruel parents;
Adieu, adieu - I died for love."
V. Willie and Mary.
From Miss Pound. "Reported by Mrs. I. E. Diehl (a Nebraskan) of Robinson, Utah." Compare Pound, Syllabus, pp. 18- 9.
1. "Oh who is at my bedroom window?
Who weeps and sighs so bitterly? "
2. "O Mary dear, go ask your mother
If you my wedded bride may be;
And if she says nay, then come and tell me,
And I no more will trouble thee."
3. "O Willie dear, I dare not ask her,
For she lies on her bed of rest;
And by her side there lies another"
4. "O Mary dear, go ask your father
If you my wedded bride may be;
And if he says nay, then come and tell me,
And I no more will trouble thee."
5. "O Willie dear, I dare not ask him,
For he is on his bed of rest,
And by his side there lies a dagger,
To pierce the one that I love best."
6. Then Willie drew a silver dagger
And pierced it through his aching breast,
Saying his farewell to his own true lover,
"Farewell, farewell, I am at rest."
7. Then Mary drew the bloody dagger
And pierced it through her snow-white breast,
Saying her farewell, "Dear father, mother,
Farewell, farewell, we're both at rest."
1 Compare Shearin and Coombs, p. 23 (" Bedroom Window"); Belden, No. 18; Barry, No. 37.
2 See p. 361, below. Belden has two variants which show this same admixture.
3 See p. 322, above.
4 Belden notes that the last four stanzas of his third version (which correspond to the last four of Mrs. Case's) do not properly belong to this song. For Case, stanza 5, cf. JAFL 29: 183-184; Belden, No. 88; Shearin and Coombs, p. 26; Wyman and Brockway, Lonesome Tunes, I: 57; McGill, Folk-Songs from the Kentucky Mountains, p. 23. For stanzas 4, 7, cf. "The Butcher's Boy (Tolman JAFL 29: 169-170 stanzas 5, 8).
_______________________
FANNY BLAIR.
"Fanny Blair" appears to be a street-ballad of Irish origin. It
occurs in English broadsides: for example, Harvard College, 25242.10o.5
fol. 149 (" Hodges, Printer, from Pitts' Marble Warehouse "); 25242.18,
No. 23 (R. Evans, Chester, before 1831). A number of American
song-books 'also contain it: "The Forget Me Not Songster" (New
York, Nafis & Cornish), pp. Io2-1o3 (or Philadelphia and New York,
Turner & Fisher, pp. 21-22); "The Pearl Songster" (New York,
C. P..Huestis, 1846), pp. 126-127; "The Popular Forget-me-not
Songster," pp. Io7-Io8; " The New American Song Book and Letter
Writer " (Louisville, C. Hagan & Co.), pp. Io7-Io8. Sharp found the
song in Somerset, but in so confused a form that he substituted
a broadside text (Catnach): "Folk Songs from Somerset," No. 117,
5: 43-45 (cf. p. 86); "One Hundred English Folksongs," No. 46,
pp. xxxii, 104-105.
Fanny Blair.
Communicated by Miss Loraine Wyman, as sung by Sallie Adams,
Kentucky, in 1916.
One morn - ing, one morn- ing, one morn - ing in May,
This
young man came to me
and.these
words he did say: "There's
ven- geance sworn a - gainst you by young Fan - ny Blair."
344 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
I. One morning, one morning, one morning in May
This young man came to me and these words he did say:
"'There's vengeance sworn against you by young Fanny Blair."
2. There is young Fanny Blair scarce eleven years old:
I'm a-going to die and the truth I'll unfold, -
I never had dealings with her in my time.
Isn't it hard I have to die for another man's crime?
3. Just before they counted table, young Fanny was there,
Brought up and profess herself did prepare,
With the Judge's hard swearing I'm ashamed for to tell:
Says the Judge, "Your old mother has tutored you well."
4. There is one more thing of my old parents I crave -
In the midst of their garden for to dig my grave.
I come by dispectal parents, that's what you may know -
I was born in old England, brought up in Tyrone.
FLORELLA.
"Florella" is widely current, and passes under many names, -
"Florella," "Florilla," "The Death of Sweet Florilla," "Flora Ella,"
"Floella," "Fair Florellai" "Fair Ella," "Fair Aurilla," "Poor Lora,"
"Poor Lurella," "Blue-eyed Ella (or Nellie)," "Nell (or Nellie)
Cropsy," "Emma," "Abbie Summers," "Pearl Bryn," "Down by
the Drooping Willows (or Down by the Weeping Willow)," " Dear
Edward," "The Jealous Lover," etc. It is printed in JAFL 20 : 264-265
(Miss Pettit, Hindman, Kentucky); 22 :370-372 (Barry, New Hampshire
and Massachusetts; cf. tune in 22 : 79); 28: 168-169 (Perrow,
North Carolina). Several variants from Virginia are published by
Grainger in "The Focus" (4 : 358-370). Belden reports others
from Missouri (JAFL 25:10o-II;; cf. No. 26 in his Partial List),'
Shearin and Coombs from Kentucky (Syllabus, p. 28), Miss Pound
from Nebraska (p. 17); F. C. Brown from North Carolina (p. Io);
B. L. Jones from Michigan (p. 3).2 Mr. Edward C. Smith has communicated
a copy from West Virginia, and Miss Loraine Wyman one
from Kentucky.
In some of these versions the murderous lover is actuated by
jealousy; in others, by the common motive of riddance. Quite a
different ballad is "Oxford City" (p. 356, below), in which the jealous
man poisons his sweetheart in a glass of wine.
THE FORSAKEN GIRL.
A four-stanza version of "The Forsaken Girl" (from Miss Pettit,
Kentucky) was printed in this Journal (2o : 268), and it was pointed
1 Belden has collected no less than fifteen variants.
2 A copy from Happy Hours is reprinted in the Boston Transcript for Jan. 13, 1912.
Ballads and Songs. 345
out that the song resembles a piece variously known as "The Poor
Stranger" (Christie, "Traditional Ballad Airs," 2 : 220-221), "Sweet
Europe" (Sharp and Marson, "Folk Songs from Somerset," No. 46,
2: 42-43), and "The Happy Stranger" (Pitts slip ballad, Harvard
College, 25242.2, fol. 114). In this the forsaken girl is comforted by
another "poor stranger" of the opposite sex, and (in the broadside)
the pair are happily married. A fragmentary text recovered in Missouri
by Belden (and printed below) belongs to this latter set, and
shows striking similarities both to Christie and to the Pitts broadside.
A text much like Miss Pettit's, but containing the introductory
first stanza ("I walked out one morning so early in spring"), which
that lacks, is published, with music, in Miss McGill's "Folk-Songs
from the Kentucky Mountains" (pp. 50-53), and Belden has a copy
from Missouri which accords well with Miss McGill's. Compare
Shearin and Coombs, p. 25 ("A Poor Strange Girl"). See also "The
Wagoner's Lad" and "Old Smoky" (p. 351 and note I, below).
An interesting adaptation of " The Forsaken Girl," made by some
Texan in the time of the Civil War, is printed as "The Rebel Prisoner"
in "Allan's Lone Star Ballads. A Collection of Southern
Patriotic Songs made during Confederate Times," compiled and revised
by Francis D. Allan (Galveston, 1874), pp. 8o-8t. It begins,-
One morning, one morning, one morning in May,
I heard a poor soldier lamenting, and say,
I heard a poor soldier lamenting, and say,
"I am a rebel prisoner, and Dixie is my home!
" O0 Mollie! 0 Mollie! it was for your sake alone
That I left my own country, my father to moan,
That I left my poor father, far away to roam-
I am a Rebel prisoner, and Dixie is my home!"
The Onconstant Loveyer.
Communicated by Professor Belden. From G. C. Broadhead,
Columbia, Mo., 1911.
Onem orn-ingf,a irm orni-n g, one morni-n g in May, I spied a fair
dam - sel a - rak- ing of hay; I walk-ed up to her and
made a con - gee, And ask - ed her par - don for mak - ing so free.
346 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
i. One morning, fair morning, one morning in May,
I spied a fair damsel a-raking of hay;
I walked up to her and made a congee,
And asked her pardon for making so free.
2. "Polly, pretty Polly, will you take it unkind
If I come and sit by you and tell you my mind?
Polly, pretty Polly, will you take it amiss
If I come and sit by you and give you a kiss?"
She hanged down her head and fetched a long groan,
And said, "I'm a poor girl afar away from home.
4. " Meetings for pleasure, partings in grief,
But an onconstant loveyer is worse than a thief;
A thief can but rob you of all that you have,
But an onconstant loveyer will tote you to your grave." 1
For comparison the first two stanzas of the Pitts broadside version,
"The Happy Stranger," are appended. The "congee" (not in Pitts)
appears in Christie's version.
I. As I was a walking one morning in spring,
To hear the birds whistle and nightingales sing
I heard a young damsel making her moan,
Says I am a stranger and far from my home.
2. I stepped up to her and bending my knee,
And asked her pardon for making so free,
I take pity on you by hearing your moan
For I am a stranger and far from my home.2
The following ditty is given as an interesting example of the way
in which folk-song behaves. It cannot be called, obviously, a version
of "The Forsaken Girl," but it has a touch of that song in the second
stanza.
Down in the Valley.
Communicated by Professor Belden. Sent to him by Miss Goldy
M. Hamilton, who had it from Frank Jones, West Plains High School,
Missouri, 1909-10.
i. Down in the valley, valley so low,
Late in the evening, hear the train blow;
1 For this last stanza see " The Unconstant Lovier," in Unsworth's Burnt Cork Lyrics
(New York, cop. 1859), p. 39.
2 Pitts slip, Harvard College, 25242.2, fol. 114.
Ballads and Songs. 347
The train, love, hear the train blow;
Late in the evening, hear the train blow.
2. Go build me a mansion, build it so high,
So I can see my true love go by,
See her go by, love, see her go by,
So I can see my true love go by.
3. Go write me a letter, send it by mail;
Bake it and stamp it to the Birmingham jail,
Birmingham jail, love, to the Birmingham jail,
Bake it and stamp it to the Birmingham jail.
4. Roses are red, love, violets are blue;
God and his angels know I love you,
Know I love you, know I love you,
God and his angels know I love you.
THE GREEN MOUNTAIN.
A rather confused version of four stanzas may be found in "The
Songster's Museum; or A Trip to Elysium, Northampton, Mass."
(1803), pp. I I1-112 (Boston Public Library). There is a better text
(six stanzas) in "The Forget Me Not Songster" (New York, Nafis &
Cornish, ca. 184o), pp. 8o-8I.1 A good copy occurs in a Boston
broadside of about 1830 in the Harvard College Library, 25242.5.13 F
(282).2 A fragment of the piece has become combined with "The
Wagoner's Lad" (JAFL 20 : 269).
For English versions see Broadwood and Fuller Maitland, "English
County Songs," pp. 136-137 ("Faithful Emma"); "Journal of the
Folk-Song Society," I : 122-123; 4 : 310-319. Compare "Streams
of Lovely Nancy." a
On Yonder High Mountain.
Communicated by Professor Angelo Hall of Annapolis, 1914, as
sung by his aunt, Mrs. Elmina Cooley, who died twenty years before.
Mrs. Cooley got the song from her father, Theophilus Stickney,
before 1833. He was born in Jaffrey, N.H., in 1814, and belonged
to the Stickney family of Rowley, Mass.4
1 This copy was noted by Barry. See also The Forget Me Not Songster (Philadelphia
and New York, Turner & Fisher, ca. 1840), pp. 15-16.
2 , Sold Wholesale and Retail, corner of Cross and Fulton sts., Boston."
3 For this see JAFL 20o : 268, and add the following Harvard broadsides: 25242.4, ii, 50
(Pitts, early); 25242.26, p. 34 (H. Such); 25242.17, v, I6o (Catnach); same, x, 137.
4 This text, with the tune, is printed (all except the fourth stanza) in An Astronomer's
Wife, the Biography of Angeline Hall, by her son, Angelo Hall (Baltimore, I908), p. I8,
from which the air is here reprinted.
VOL. XXX.-NO. 117.-23
348 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
On yon - der highm ountaint herea cas - tie doth stand, All deckedi n green
i - vy from the top to the strand; Fine arch - es, fine porch- es, and the
limestone so white; 'Tis a guide for the sail - or in the dark stormy night.
I. On yonder high mountain there the castle doth stand,
All decked in green ivy from the top to the strand (or stern);
Fine arches, fine porches, and the limestone so white:
'Tis a guide for the sailor in the dark, stormy night.
2. 'Tis a landscape of pleasure, 'tis a garden of green,
And the fairest of flowers that ever was seen.
Fine (or for) hunting, fine fishing, and fine fowling also -
The fairest of flowers on this mountain doth grow.
3. At the foot of this mountain there the ocean doth flow,
And ships from the East Indies to the Westward do go,
With the red flags aflying and the beating of drums,
Sweet instruments of music and the firing of guns.
4. Had Polly proved loyal, I'd have made her my bride,
But her mind being inconstant it ran like the tide.
Like a ship on the ocean that is tossed to and fro
Some angel direct me! Oh, where shall I go!
5. Had Polly proved loyal, I'd have made her my bride,
But her mind being inconstant it ran like the tide.
The king can but love her, and I do the same.
I'll crown her my jewel and be her true swain.
IN GOOD OLD COLONY TIMES.
(Ballad of the Three.)
To the American versions recorded in this Journal (29 : 167) 1 should
be added a text sent to "Notes and Queries'" from Philadelphia in
1868 (4th series, 2:569) in reply to a request (I: 389); it begins,
"In good old colony times." In the same place is printed an English
version in four stanzas, beginning, -
King Arthur ruled this land,
He was a mighty king.
1 Belden has two copies from Missouri. Neither begins with the characteristically
American "In good old colony days" (but one lacks the first stanza).
Ballads and Songs. 349
The editor remarks that more than twenty other correspondents had
sent copies, varying only in trifling points.' A three-stanza text
(" King Arthur had three sons") is in " Notes and Queries," 4th series,
2 :237. See also Broadwood and Fuller Maitland, "English County
Songs," pp. 20-21 (" King Arthur "); Miss Mason, "Nursery Rhymes
and Country Songs," p. 7 (" King Arthur's Three Servants," beginning
"In good King Arthur's days"); Sharp, "One. Hundred English
Folksongs," No. 80o, pp. xxxviii, I8o-I8I ("Three Sons," beginning
"There was a farmer had three sons"). A somewhat similar song
begins, -
When Arthur first in court began
To wear long hanging sleeves,2
He entertained three serving men,
And all of them were thieves.
This was arranged as a glee for three voices by Dr. Callcott: see
Richard Clark, "The Most Favourite Pieces performed at the Glee
Club, the Catch Club, and other Public Societies" (London, 1814),
p. 338; "The Vocal Library," No. Io8o, p. 4o6; " Notes and Queries,"
4th series, 3 : 19, 158.
AN INCONSTANT LOVER.
Communicated by Miss Loraine Wyman, as sung by Ora and Polly
Dickson, Letcher County, Kentucky, May, 1916.
To meet -ing, to meet - ing, to...... meet-ing goes I, To
meet lov- ing Su - san, she's a - com- ing by and by; To
meet her in...... the meadows it's all my de - light, I can
walk.......
and talk with her from morn- ing till night. walk......... and talk with her from morn-i ng till night.
1 A version with additional stanzas occurs in Beadle's Dime Song Book No. 12 (cop.
1864), p. 39, and The "We Won't Go Home till Morning" Songster (New York, R. M
De Witt), p. I9. There is a text beginning "Old Daddy Hopkins had three sons" in
Frank Brower's Black Diamond Songster (New York, Dick & Fitzgerald, cop. 1863), p. 42.
See also The Stonewall Song Book (IIth ed., Richmond, I865), p. 34.
2 So far, this ditty parodies the famous old broadside ballad "The Noble Acts of King
Arthur" (Garland of Good Will, Percy Society, p. 38; Roxburghe Ballads, ed. Ebsworth,
6 : 722; Old Ballads, I723, 2 : 21; Child, English and Scottish Ballads, I857, I : I24).
350 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
I. To meeting, to meeting, to meeting goes I,
To meet loving Susan, she's a-coming by-and-by;
To meet her in the meadow it's all my delight,
I can walk and talk with her from morning till night.
2. For meeting is a comfort and parting is a grief;
An inconstant true love is worse than a thief:
A thief will only rob you and take what you have,
But an inconstant true love will bring you to your grave.
3. Your grave it will rot you and turn you into dust,
And there's not one in twenty you'll dare for to trust;
They'll kiss a poor maiden, and it's all to deceive,
And there's not one in five hundred you'll dare to believe.
4. Come, young men and maidens, take warning by me:
Never place your affections on a green willow tree;
The top it will wither, and the roots they will rot,
And if I'm forsaken, I know I'm not forgot.
5. If I am forsaken, I am not forsworn;
And you're badly mistaken if you think I do mourn;
I'll dress myself up in some high degree,
And I'll pass as light by him as he does by me.
Miss McGill publishes a version of this song ("The Cuckoo"), with
two tunes, in her "Folk-Songs from the Kentucky Mountains,"
pp. 34-38. The concluding stanza in her text is, -
Cuckoo is a pretty bird, she sings as she flies,
She brings us good tidings, and tells us no lies;
She sucks all sweet flowers to keep her voice clear,
She never cries "Cuckoo" till spring of the year.
This stanza occurs in Miss Wyman's version of "The Wagoner's
Lad," "Lonesome Tunes," : 64 ("Loving Nancy").' Shearin and
Coombs, p. 24, record a version of "Cuckoo" which resembles Miss
McGill's.2
Belden has a Missouri version ("Sweet William") that runs even
with Miss Wyman's for the first five stanzas, but ends with the
cuckoo. Stanzas 5 and 6 are as follows:--
5. If he has forsaken, why, I have forsworn,
And he is very much mistaken if he thinks I will mourn;
I'll dress up in my finery and go out for to see,
I'll pass as lightly by him as he can pass by me.
1 Big Laurel Creek, Pine Mountain, Kentucky.
2 Compare F. C. Brown, p. 12; Notes and Queries, Ist series, 10: 524 (query from
Philadelphia); Barry, No. 84.
Ballads and Songs. 351
6. Oh the cuckoo is a pretty bird, he sings as he flies;
He brings us glad tidings and tells us no lies;
He feeds on young birds to make him sing clear,
And when he sings cuckoo the summer draws near.
A Mississippi song called "Forsaken," printed by Perrow (JAFL 28:
169-170), has defiant sentiments, and resembles in part stanza 5
(just above). It has also a touch of what serves as stanza 3 of "The
Wagoner's Lad" in Miss Pettit's version (JAFL 20 :269).
For "The Cuckoo" ("The Inconstant Lover") see also "Notes and
Queries" (1869, 4th series), 3:205; 3:365 (as heard fifty-five years
before from a nurse); Barrett, "English Folk-Songs," No. 47, p. 81;
Baring-Gould and Sheppard, "A Garland of Country Song," No. I,
pp. 2-3; Sharp and Marson, "Folk Songs from Somerset," No. 72, 3:
48-50; Sharp, "One Hundred English Folksongs," No. 35, pp. 82-83
(cf. pp. xxix-xxx); Hammond, "Folk-Songs from Dorset" (Sharp,
"Folk-Songs of England," I), No. 11, pp. 24-25; "Journal of the
Folk-Song Society," 3: 9-91. All of the foregoing have the lines
about the cuckoo. These, however, are lacking in a version in the
"Journal of the Folk-Song Society," I :208, as in Miss Wyman's
version (p. 349, above). They occur independently as a nursery
rhyme or popular saying: see Halliwell, "Nursery Rhymes of England,"
5th and 6th eds., Nos. 495-496, pp. 251-252; "Notes and
Queries," Ist series, 11 : 38; 4th series, 3 :205; 5 : 596; Northall,
"English Folk-Rhymes," pp. 268-269; "Folk-Lore Record," 2 : 58;
Crossing, "Folk-Rhymes of Devon," p. 114, note; and some of them
are inserted (with changes) in "The Seasons" (Baring-Gould and
Sheppard, No. 19, stanza 6, p. 41).
The first and second stanzas of "An Inconstant Lover" appear in
"Old Smoky," printed by Professor E. C. Perrow in JAFL 28: 159
(from North Carolina). "Old Smoky" is a strange but singable and
pleasing compound of "The Wagoner's Lad," 1 "Courting too Slow," 2
"The Forsaken Girl," 3 and the present piece.
Three stanzas of "The Inconstant Lover" appear as a two-stanza
song with chorus in a copy from Hallsville, Boone County, Missouri,
obtained in 1913, and now communicated by Professor Belden.
I For "The Wagoner's Lad" see JAFL 20: 268-269 (cf. "The Rue and the Thyme"
[Greig, Folk-Song of the North-East, lxxxiv, lxxxvii]); 22 : 387; Wyman and Brockway,
Lonesome Tunes, I : 62-64 ("Loving Nancy"); Shearin and Coombs, p. 20.
2 See JAFL 20 :273-274 ("Loving Nancy"); Shearin and Coombs, p. 26 ("Lovely
Nancy"); Logan, A Pedlar's Pack, p. 364; broadside, Harvard College, 25242.28
(" Courting too Slow," no imprint). Compare Shearin and Coombs, p. 26 (" My Bonnie
Little Girl").
3 See p. 344, above.
352 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
Forsaken.
I. Come all ye pretty fair maids take warning by me,
Never place your affection on a sycamore tree,
For the leaves they will wither, and the balls they will dust,
There ain't one boy in a thousand that a poor girl can trust.
Chorus.
Forsaken, forsaken, forsaken by one!
Never place your affection on a poor boy so free;
He's out on the water, he'll sink or he'll swim;
If he can live without me, I can live without him.
2. Come all ye pretty fair maids, take warning by me,
Never place your affections on a poor boy so free;
He'll hug you and kiss you, and tell you more lies
Than the sands of the seashore or the stars of the skies.
THE INQUISITIVE LOVER.
This interesting song, collected by Miss Loraine Wyman in Kentucky,
is a curious variant of a black-letter " ballad " of the seventeenth
century preserved in the Roxburghe, Pepys, and other collections
("Roxburghe Ballads," ed. Ebsworth, 7:295-296): "The Young
Man's Resolution to the Maiden's Request." The original consists
of ten stanzas. For similar pieces see Ebsworth, "Roxburghe Ballads,"
7:297-299, 341; "Bagford Ballads," 2: 534-535. Many
parallels to the impossible contingencies that make the humor of
these songs are cited by Child (I : 437).
The Inquisitive Lover.
Communicated by Miss Loraine Wyman, as taken down in 1916
from the singing of L. E. Meece, Pulaski County, Kentucky.
As I walked through the pleas--ant grove, Not a - lone, as might have
been sup - pos - ed, I chancedto meet some friend of mine, Which
caus - ed me some time to tar - ry, And then at me she
Ballads and Songs. 353
did en - treat To tell her when I meant to mar - ry. "Sweet -
heart," saidI, "if you mustknow, Go markthese words as I re-veal them."
I. As I walked through the pleasant grove,
Not alone, as might have been supposMd,
I chanced to meet some friend of mine,
Which causMd me some time to tarry,
And then at me she did entreat
To tell her when I meant to marry.
2. "Sweetheart," said I, "if you must know,
Go mark these words as I reveal them;
So plainly print them on your mind,
And in your heart do you conceal them;
For of these things you may make no doubt,
And if of the same you will be weary;
So now I will begin to tell you
When I do intend to marry.
3. "When hot sunshiny weather won't dry up mire,
And fishes in green fields are feeding,
When man and horse the ocean plow,
And swans upon dry rocks are swimming;
When every city is pulled down,
Old English into France is carried,
When indigo dyes red and brown,
Then me and my true love will marry.
4. "When countrymen for judges sit,
And lemons fall in February,
When millers they their tolls forget,
Then me and my true love will marry;
When cockle shells lie in the streets,
No gold to them can be compared,
When gray goose wings turn to gold rings,
Then me and my true love will marry.
THE JOLLY THRESHERMAN.
This is a condensed rifacimento of a favorite seventeenth-century
black-letter ballad found in the Roxburghe (3:308), Pepys (2:56;
C. 22, fol. 157), and other collections (Ebsworth, Roxburghe Ballads,
7 : 328-330): "The Noble-Man's Generous Kindness; or, The Country
Man's Unexpected Happiness." The original has seventeen stanzas.
354 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
The ballad appears, practically unchanged, in a Newcastle broadside
of the eighteenth century printed by Robert Marchbank, with the
full title (Harvard College, 25242.31 PF); I also in a late eighteenthcentury
slip (without imprint) under the title of "My good old Lord
Fauconbridge's generous gift," 2 and under the title of "Generous
Gift" in broadsides issued by Pitts (25242.2, fol. 139) and Catnach
(the same, fol. 183). A copy, but slightly altered, occurs in Johnson's
famous work, "The Scots Musical Museum," part iv (1792), pp.
384-385, No. 372 ("The Poor Thresher"); it is said by Stenhouse to
have been contributed by Burns.3
The condensed version, substantially equivalent to that communicated
by Professor Broadus (below), occurs in various modern
broadsides, - "The Squire and Thrasher" (or the like), "printed for
John Carrots" (Harvard College Library, 25242.17, ii, 25); Forth,
Bridlington, No. 158 (same, iii, 184); Walker, Durham, No. 36
(same, vi, 79); J. O. Bebbington, Manchester, No. 318 (same, x, 66);
H. P. Such, No. 556 (Child Broadsides).
For recent oral tradition see Broadwood and Reynardson, "Sussex
Songs," No. 14, pp. 28-29 ("The Nobleman and the Thresherman");
Broadwood and Fuller Maitland, "English County Songs," pp. 68-69
("The Thresherman and the Squire"); "Journal of the Folk-Song
Society," I :79-80 ("The Thresherman and the Squire"); 2: 198
("The Jolly Thresherman"); 3:302-304 ("The Thresherman and
the Squire").
The Jolly Thresherman.
Communicated by Mr. E. K. Broadus (now professor in the University
of Alberta), Jan. 27, 1908. From Miss Rosalie M. Broadus of
Alexandria, Va. Taken down from the singing of a Virginia woman
aged about eighty-five.
I. As I was a-travelling all on a summer's day,
I met a jolly thresherman all on the highway;
With his flail all o'er his shoulder and a bottle full of beer,
He was happy as a squire with ten thousand a year.
2. Says I to this jolly thresherman, "And how do you do
To support your wife and children as well as you do?
Your family is so great and your wages are so small,
I-scarce know how you do to maintain them at all."
3. "Sometimes I reap, and sometimes I mow;
A-hedging or a-ditching sometimes I do go.
Oh! there's nothing goes amiss with me, a wagon or a plow,
For I earn all my money by the sweat of my brow.
1 From this it was printed by Dixon, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England,
Percy Society, 17 : 98-oo (Bell's edition [1846], Ancient Poems, etc., pp. 148-151).
2 Harvard College broadsides (1917, lot Io).
3 See Stenhouse's edition (1853), 2 : 384-385, and note (4 : 344).
Ballads and Songs. 355
4. "When I come in at night, wet and weary as I be,
The youngest of my children I dandle on my knee,
While the others they come round me with their sweet prattling noise:
Oh! that is the pleasure a poor man ejnoys."
5. "Well, since you are so kind and loving to your wife,
Here's a thousand acres of good land, I'll give it for your life;
And if I do see you are about to take good care,
I'll will it forever to you and your dear."
THE OLD MAID'S SONG.
A very pretty piece, three stanzas and a refrain, entitled "The Old
Maid's Song," of which words and melody were collected by Miss
Wyman and Mr. Brockway in Pulaski County, Kentucky, recently,'
has been printed in their "Lonesome Tunes," I :65-67. It runs as
follows: -
The Old Maid's Song.
I. I had a sister Sally that was younger than I am,
She had so many sweethearts she was forced to deny them;
But as for my own part I never had many;
If you all knew my heart, I'd be thankful for any.
Come a landsman, a pinsman, a tinker or a tailor,
A fiddler or a dancer, a ploughboy or a sailor,
A gentleman or a poor man, a fool or a witty,
Don't you let me die an old maid, but take me out of pity.
2. I had a sister Susan that was ugly and ill-shapen,
Before she was sixteen years old she was taken;
Before she was eighteen, a son and a daughter;
Here I'm six-and-forty and never had an offer.
3. I never will be scolding and I never will be jealous,
My husband shall have money to go to the ale house,
And while he's there spending, I will be home saving,
And I leave it to the world if I'm not worth the having.
This song, now in active oral circulation, is a re-arrangement of
certain stanzas of "The Wooing Maid," a ballad by the famous
Martin Parker, which is preserved in a seventeenth-century broadside
in the Roxburghe collection, I : 452-453 (" Roxburghe Ballads," ed.
Chappell, 3 : 51-56).2 The ballad is in two parts, - the first consisting
of five stanzas, the second of nine. The following are the
stanzas used in the Kentucky song (all from part ii).
1 From the singing of Mr. L. E. Meece.
2Signed "M. P." "Printed at London for Thomas Lambert, at the signe of the
Hors-shoe in Smithfield." The ballad was entered in the Stationers' Register to Thomas
Lambert, 1635-36 (Arber's Transcript, 4: 366), as Chappell notes (3 : 678).
356 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
2. Sure I am unfortunate, of all my kindred,
Else could not my happiness be so long hindred:
My mother at eighteene had two sons and a daughter,
And I'm one and twenty, not worth looking after.
3. My sister, that's nothing so handsome as I am,
Had sixe or seven suters, and she did deny them;
Yet she before sixteene was luckily marry'd:
O Fates! why are things so unequally carry'd?
4. My kinswoman Sisly, in all parts mis-shapen,
Yet she on a husband by fortune did happen
Before she was nineteene years old, at the furthest;
Among all my linage am I the unworthiest?
8. Ile neither be given to scold nor be jealous,
Here nere shall want money to drink with good fellows:
While he spends abroad, I at home will be saving,
Now judge, am not I a lasse well worth the having?
9. Let none be offended, nor say I'm uncivill,
For I needs must have one, be he good or evill :
Nay, rather then faile, Ile have a tinker or broomman,
A pedler, an inkman, a matman, or some man.
Come gentle, come simple, come foolish, come witty,
0 let me not die a maid, take me for pitty.
The italicized lines are used as a refrain at the end of each four-line
stanza.
A version similar to Miss Wyman's occurs in modern English
broadsides: "The Love Sick Maid" (Pitts: Harvard College Library,
25242.28); "The Lovesick Maid" (Catnach: 25242.17, vii, 162).
A different song, apparently founded on this (or directly on Parker) is
"Don't Let Me Die a Maid" (Catnach, 25242.10.5, fol. 147; G.
Jacques, Manchester: 25242.17, i, 102).
OXFORD CITY.
"Oxford City" is common in English broadsides, and is still sung
in England. See the Harvard broadsides: 25242.2, fol. 260 ("The
Newport Street Damsel," T. Batchelar, Moorfields); 25242.II.5,
fol. 72 (= 25242.17, iv, 92; v, 227) ("Oxford City," J. Catnach);
25242.17, v, 48 (no imprint); same, x, 30 (probably Bebbington,
Manchester, No. 280); xi, 50 (Such, No. 50; also a broadside printed
by T. Birt (lot bought in March, 1916, p. 40). Compare "Journal of
the Folk-Song Society," 2 : 157-158 (" Newport Street"); 2 200
(" Oxford City").
Ballads and Songs. 357
OxfordC ity.
Communicated in 19Io by Mr. F. C. Walker, among several pieces
taken down by him in St. John, N.B., from the recitation of Mr.
Robert Lane, who emigrated from England at a very early age. The
songs "mainly descended to him from his mother, a native of Bristol."
Mr. Walker noted the close resemblance of this piece to the Harvard
broadsides.
i. It was of a fair maid in Oxford City,
And unto you the truth I'll tell;
She by a servantman was courted;
She sometimes told him she loved him well.
2. She loved him true but at a distance;
I fear she did not seem to be so fond.
He says, "My dear, I fear you slight me;
I fear you love some other one.
3. " And all for the sake of that true lover
I soon shall end your tender life."
He says, "My dear, why can't we marry
And at once put an end to all strife?
I'll work for you both late and early,
If you will be my wedded wife."
4. She says, "My dear, we're too young to marry,
Too young to claim our marriage bed;
And when we're married, we're bound forever,
And then, my dear, all joys are fled."
5. This fair maid she was invited,
Invited to a dance to go.
The wicked young man he quickly followed,
And he there prepared for her overthrow.
6. He saw her dancing with another,
And jealousy was in his mind.
How to destroy his own true lover
This false young man he was inclined.
7. When the dance it was all over,
He gave to her a glass of wine.
She drank it up, but, quickly after,
"Take me home, my dear," she cried.
8. "For the glass of wine you lately gave me,
It's made me very ill indeed."
9. As this young couple went home together,
He unto her these words did say:
"It was rank poison that I gave you in your liquor
For to take your tender life away.
358 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
10. "And I drank the same myself,
So I shall die as well as you."
And in each other's arms they died;
So, young men, beware of jealousy.
POLLY VANN (MOLLY WHAN).
Jamieson founded his ballad of "Lord Kenneth and Fair Ellinour" [1] on his recollection of the story of "a silly ditty of a young man, who, returning homeward from shooting with his gun, saw his sweetheart, and shot her for a swan;" and, in circulating "Lord Kenneth" (as a printed sheet) among his friends in 1799, he prefixed a note to that effect, remarking that he had not been able to procure a copy. In 1803 he mentioned the ditty as "the tragic ballad of 'Peggie Baun'" in his list of desiderata in the " Scots Magazine," 65 : 700. In 1806 he was able to publish an incomplete text, " Peggy Baun," in his " Popular
Ballads" (I : 194) from the recitation of a maidservant. He apologized to his readers "for attempting to introduce such paltry stuff to their notice."
A slip issued by Pitts very early in the nineteenth century contains a variant under the style of "Molly Whan" (Harvard College,
25242.4, ii, 67); and almost the same text, similarly entitled, occurs in "The Lover's Harmony" (London, about 1840), p. 158.2
J. Andrews (38 Chatham Street, New York) published a text about 1857 in one of his broadsides (List 5, Song 50): "Polly von Luther and Jamie Randall" (Harris Collection, Brown University). Shearin and Coombs, p. 28, describe the ballad (from Kentucky) under the title of "Polly Vaughn."
Barry (JAFL 22 : 387) prints a four-stanza medley (" Mollie Bawn" or "At the Setting of the Sun ") which contains four lines of the ballad. The song now in circulation in England, known to collectors as "The Shooting of his Dear," is a disordered form of the broadside. It may be found in Sharp and Marson, "Folk Songs from Somerset," No. 16, I : 32-33; "Journal of the Folk-Song Society," 2 :59-60.
I. Polly Vann.
Child MSS., Harvard College Library, ii, 107-1o8, in the hand of the late Mr. W. W. Newell. "From Mrs. Ellis Allen, West Newton,
Mass., born in Scituate, now 89 years old." A similar text is printed in "Family Songs," 3 compiled by Rosa S. Allen (Medfield, Mass., 1899).
1 Popular Ballads, I : 193-199.
2 Issued in fifty numbers of eight pages each (" Pitts, Printer").
t Compare Frank Smith, Dover Farms, pp. 28-29.
Ballads and Songs. 359
I. "Beware all ye huntsmen who follow the gun,
Beware of the shooting at the setting of the sun,
For I'd my apron about me, and he took me for a swan,
But O and alas! it was I, Polly Vann!"
2. He ran up to her when he found she was dead,
And a fountain of tears for his true love he shed.
3. He took her in his arms, and ran home, crying, "Father,
Dear father, I have shot Polly Vann.
I have shot that fair female in the bloom of her life,
And I always intended to have made her my wife."
4. One night to his chamber Polly Vann did appear,
Crying, "Jamie, dear Jamie, you have nothing to fear,
But stay in your own country till your trial comes on,
You shall never be condemned by the laws of the land."
5. In the heighth of his trial Polly Vann did appear,
Crying, "Uncle, dear uncle, Jamie Randall must be clear,
For I'd my apron about me, and he took me for a swan,
But O and alas! it was I, Polly Vann!"
6. The judges and lawyers stood round in a row,
Polly Vaun in the middle, like a fountain of snow.
II.
Mollie Bond.
From Miss Loraine Wyman, as sung by Lauda Whitt, McGoffin
County, Kentucky, 1916.
Come all you young men who ban - die a gun, Be
warn - ed of shoot - ing af - ter the down sun.....
I. Come all you young men who handle a gun,
Be warned of shooting after the down sun.
2. A story I'll tell you; it happened of late,
Concerning Mollie Bond, whose beauty was great.
3. Mollie Bond was out walking, and a shower came on;
She sat under a beech tree the showers to shun.
4. Jim Random was out hunting, a hunting in the dark;
He shot at his true love and missed not his mark.
360 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
5. With a white apron pinned around her he took her for a swan;
He shot and killed her, and it was Mollie Bond.
6. He ran to her; these words to her he said,
And a fountain of tears on her bosom he shed:
7. Saying, " Mollie, dear Mollie, you're the joy of my life;
I always intended to make you my wife."
8. Jim ran to his uncle with his gun in his hand,
Saying, "Uncle, dear uncle, I've killed Mollie Bond.
9. "With her apron pinned around her, I took her for a swan;
I shot and killed her, and it was Mollie Bond."
Io. Up stepped his dear uncle with his locks all so gray,
Saying, "Stay at home, Jimmie, and do not run away.
II. "Stay in your own country till your trial comes on;
You shall not be molested if it costs me my farm."
12. The day of Jimmy's trial Mollie's ghost did appear,
Saying to this jury, "Jim Random, come clear!
13. "With my apron pinned around me he took me for a swan,
He shot and killed me, and now I am gone."
III.
Molly Baun.
From Miss Wyman, as sung by Sallie Adams, Letcher County,
Kentucky, May, 1916.
I. Jimmie Randall was a-hunting, a-hunting in the dark;
He shot at Molly Bawn O and he missed not his spot.
Molly Bawn O was a-walking when the shower came down;
She sat under a green tree the shower to shun;
With her apron pinned around her he took her for a swan;
He shot her and he killed her, it was poor Molly Bawn.
2. He runn~d up to her with his gun in his hand:
"Dear Molly, dear Molly, you're the joy of my life;
For I always intended to make you my wife."
He went to his old uncle with his locks all so gray:
"Dear uncle, dear uncle, I've killed Molly Bawn:
With her apron pinned around her I took her for a swan.
3. "I shot her, I killed her; it was poor Molly Bawn."
"Stay at home, Jimmie, and don't run away;
They never shall hang you, and I'll spend my whole farm."
On the day of Jimmie's trial young Molly did appear,
Saying, "Judges and jury, Jimmie Randall come clear!
With my apron pinned around me he took me for a swan,
And through his misfortune it was poor Molly Bawn."
Ballads and Songs. 361
POOR GOENS.
Shearin and Coombs record "Poor Goens," p. I8. The following
copy was communicated by Miss Loraine Wyman, as "sung by Rob
Morgan, Hindman, Ky., May, I916."
Goins.
4-
Come all of....... you young peo - ple...... who lives far and
near, Come all of...... you young peo - ple who lives far and
near; I'll tell you..... of a mur - der.... done on the Black Spur.
I. Come all of you young people who lives far and near,
I'll tell you of a murder done on the Black Spur.
2. They surrounded poor Goins, but Goins got away;
He went to Eli Boggs' and there he did stay.
3. Old Eli's son Hughie his life did betray
By telling him he'd go with him to show him the way.
4. They took up the nine miles spar boys they made no delay,
Afraid they would miss him and Goins get away.
5. When they saw him coming, they lay very still,
Saying, "It's money we're after, and Goins we'll kill."
6. They fired on poor Goins, which made his horse run;
The shot failed to kill him; George struck him with a gun.
7. "Sweet heavens, sweet heavens!" poor Goins did cry,
"To think of my poor companion, and now I must die."
8. And when they had killed him, with him they would not stay;
They then took his money and then rode away.
9. I wish you could have been there to hear her poor moan:
"Here lies his poor body, but where is his poor soul?"
THE SILVER DAGGER.
Miss Pettit's Kentucky version ("The Green Field and Meadows") was printed in this Journal (20:267). A West Virginia text communicated by Professor Cox (from Mr. Edward C. Smith) corresponds to this ("The Warning Deaths"). Compare Shearin and Coombs, p. 27 ("Lovely Julia");[1] Belden, No. 22 (cf. JAFL 25: 12-13)[2]; Barry (JAFL 25 : 282, tune); Pound, pp. 17-18. For the occasional contamination of "The Silver Dagger" with "The Drowsy Sleeper" see pp. 342-343, above. The text printed below has three stanzas more than Miss Pettit's.
The Silver Dagger.
Communicated by Professor Belden, as received from Mrs. Eva Warner Case, Harrison County, Missouri.
[music]
1. Come young and old, and pay attention
To these few lines I'm going to write.
They are as true as ever was written
Concerning a young and beautiful maid.
2. A young man courted a handsome lady;
He loved her as he loved his life,
And ofttimes he would make his vowings
To make her his long and wedded wife.
3. Now when his parents came to know this,
They strove to part them day and night,
Saying, "Son, O son, don't be so foolish,
For she's too poor to be your wife."
4. Young William down on his knees pleading,
Saying, "Father, father, pity me.
Don't keep me from my dearest Julia,
For she is all this world to me."
5. Now when this lady came to know this,
She soon resolved what she would do,
To wander forth and leave the city,
In the pleasant groves no more to roam.
6. She wandered down by the lonely river,
And there for death she did prepare,
Saying, "Here am I a youth come mourning,
And soon shall sink in deep despair."
7. She then picked up a silver dagger,
And pierced it through her snow-white breast.
At first she reeled and then she staggered,
Saying, "Fare you well, I'm going to rest."
8. Young William down by the roadside near by,
He thought he heard his true love's voice.
He ran, he ran like one distracted,
Saying, "Love, 0 love, I fear you're lost."
9. Her cold dark eyes like diamonds opened,
Saying, "Love, O love, you've come too late,
Prepare to meet me on Mount Zion,
Where all our joys will be complete."
10. He then picked up this bloody dagger
And pierced it through his own true heart,
Saying, "Let this be a woful warning
That lovers here should never part."
1 Compare p. 12 ("Rosanna"); Sewanee Review, July, 1911.
2 Belden now has six variants.
THE SOLDIER'S WOOING.
For "The Soldier," or "The Soldier's Wooing," see Tolman (JAFL
29: 188); Belden, No. 84; Pound, p. 14; Virginia Folk-Lore Society,
Bulletin, No. 4, P. 5. Miss Pound's copy (brought to Nebraska from
Missouri by Mrs. B. B. Wimtberley of Omaha) agrees pretty well with
Barry's text (JAFL 23 : 447-449) for the first five stanzas, but brings
the tale to a rapid conclusion in the sixth:-
The first one he came to, he run him through the brain;
The next one he came to, he served him just the same.
" Hold on," said the old man, "don't strike so bold,
And you shall have my daughter and ten thousand pounds of gold."
SWEET WILLIAM (THE SAILOR BOY).
See Christie, "Traditional Ballad Airs," I :248-249 ("The Sailing
Trade"); Broadwood and Fuller Maitland, "English County Songs,"
PP. 74-75 ("Sweet William"); "Journal of the Folk-Song Society,"
I : 99-Ioo ("A Sailor's Life"); 2:293-294 ("Early, early all in the
spring"); Sharp, "One Hundred English Folksongs," No. 72, pp.
162-163, xxxvi; Catnach broadside ("The Sailor Boy and his Faithful
Nancy," Harvard College, 25242.17, vii, 198); "Merry Songs,"
LondondonJ,. Davenport, No. 15 (25243.20, fol. 48, about I8, "The
Sailor Boy"). There is an Irish-American copy in the Child MSS.,
ii, 142 ("'Tis early, early all in the spring"). See also Barry, No. 42.
VOL. XXX.-NO. I17.-24.
364 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
Miss Pound (pp. 42, 69) records two variants from Nebraska ("Sailor's
Trade," "Sailor Boy").
Sweet William.
Communicated, 1917, by Mr. C. McPh. A. Rogers, to whom it was
sent by Mr. John D. McInnis of Meridian, Miss. Mr. McInnis
writes, April 4, 1917: "'Sweet William' . . I heard in the mountains
of East Tennessee during the Civil War. It was sung by an
ignorant mountain-girl, who accompanied herself with an accordion.
The song still lives in the mountains. It was heard there two summers
ago by a grandson of mine, who had heard me sing it." Stanzas I,
5, and 6 appear in part in "The Butcher's Boy" and elsewhere (see
JAFL 29 : 169-170).
i. She sot down, she wrote a song,
She wrote it true, she wrote it long,
At ev'ry line she dropped a tear
And ev'ry word cried, "O my dear!"
2. She cast her boat upon the tide
That she might sail the ocean wide,
An' ev'ry ship that she passed by
She thought she heard her William cry.
3. "0 sailors, O sailors, pray tell me true,
Has my sweet William been sailin' with you?"
"No, no, purty Miss, he isn't here,
He's drowned in some deep, I fear."
4. Her boat was cast upon the san',
She wandered fur in a furrin lan',
O'er valleys low, o'er hills so high,
Still she heard Sweet William cry.
5. Three Eastern men went ridin' by;
They spied her on a limb so high;
They tuk her down fuh to be at rest;
A turkle dove lit on her breast.
6. So dig her grave both deep and steep,
An' put the marble at the head and feet,
Cyarve on that stone a turtle dove
To signify she died of love.
Ballads and Songs. 365
THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS.
The text here printed is worth notice because of its long period of
demonstrable oral transmission in America. It was taken down by
G. L. Kittredge, Dec. 30, 1877, from the singing of Mrs. Sarah G.
Lewis of Barnstable, Mass. (born in Boston, 1799). Mrs. Lewis
learned the song when a young girl from her grandmother, Mrs.
Sarah Gorham.
I. The first day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Some part of a juniper tree,
And some part of a juniper tree.
2. The second day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Two French hens,
And some part of a juniper tree,
And some part of a juniper tree.
3. The third day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Three turkle doves, two French hens,
And some part, etc.
4. The fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Four colly birds, three turkle doves, etc.
5. The fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Five gold rings, etc.
6. The sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Six geese a-laying, etc.
7. The seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Seven swans a-swimming, etc.
8. The eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Eight . ..
9. The ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Nine lambs a-bleating, etc.
o0. The tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Ten ladies dancing, etc.
i 1. The eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Eleven lords a-leading, etc.
12. The twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Twelve bells a-ringing, etc.
In a copy from Quincy, Mass., sent to Child March 30, 1881 (Child
MSS., ii, 19O-194; cf. xxi, 4, article 6 a), the series is, a partridge
and a pear-tree, two turtle doves, three French hens, four colly birds,
I Forgotten by the singer.
366 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
five gold rings, six geese a-laying, seven swans a-singing, eight ladies
dancing, nine fiddlers fiddling, ten rams a-bleating(?), eleven stags
a-leaping, twelve bulls a-roaring. In a Massachusetts text from Miss
Julia M. Maynard the series runs, a part of a juniper tree, two turtle
doves, three French hens, four Cornish birds, five gold rings, six
geese a-laying, seven swans a-swimming, eight herds a-grazing, nine
ladies dancing, ten fiddlers fiddling, eleven golden pippins, twelve
silver florins. In another, communicated a few years ago by Mr. J. S.
Snoddy, as "sung by Mrs. Uriah Holt, Andover, Mass., 95 years old,"
we have, a partridge upon a fair tree, two turtle-doves, three collie
birds, four American hens, five gold rings, six geese a-laying, seven
swans a-swimming, eight ladies dancing, nine lords a-leaping, ten
bells a-beating, eleven hounds a-howling, twelve knights a-riding.
See " Family Songs," compiled by Rosa S. Allen (1899), for siill another
Massachusetts text. In a variant taken down in 1916 by Miss Loraine
Wyman in Pulaski County, Kentucky, there are but seven gifts, - a
partridge in a pear-tree, two turtle-doves, three French hens, four corn
boys, five gold rings, six geese a-laying, and seven swans a-swimming.
In a full Missouri copy in Belden's collection we have "eight deers
a-running, nine wolves a-howling, ten ladies dancin r, eleven lords
a-limping, twelve bulls a-bellering." Compare Barry, No. 67.
For English and Scottish versions see Halliwell, " Nursery Rhymes,"
1842, No. 226, pp. 127-128 (2d ed., 1843, No. 272, pp. 155-156; 5th
and 6th eds., No. 346, pp. 184-188); Chambers, "Popular Rhymes of
Scotland" (ed. 1870), pp. 42-43; Bruce and Stokoe, "Northumbrian
Minstrelsy," pp. 129-131; "Notes and Queries," Ist series, 12 :56-
507; Husk, "Songs of the Nativity," pp. 181-185; Balfour, "County
Folk-Lore," 4 : 138 (Stokoe's text); Baring-Gould, "Songs of the
West," 4: xxxiii-xxxiv; Gomme, "Traditional Games," 2 :315-321;
Sharp, "One Hundred English Folksongs," No. 96:xlii, 224-225;
"Journal of the Folk-Song Society," 5:277-281. There is a similar
French song in the "Revue des Traditions Populaires," 7:34-36
(with tune).
In a broadsideof about 18oo or perhaps earlier (Angus, Printer),
entitled "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (Harvard College Library,
25242.5.5.149, No. 15), the series is, a partridge in a pear-tree, two
turtle-doves, three French hens, four colly birds, five gold rings,
"six geese a laying, seven swans a swimming, eight maids a milking,
nine drummers drumming, ten pipers playing, eleven ladies dancing,
twelve lords a leaping."
The following Shetland version, which resembles Chambers's text,
is in the Child MSS., iii, 17 (Harvard College Library). It was sent to
Child in I880 by Mr. Arthur Laurenson, who received it from Mr. R.
Sinclair, Jr., of Shetland, in whose handwriting it is.
Ballads and Songs. 367
Come now let me see
Who learns this carol and carries it for me.
The king sent his ladie the first Yule day
One peeping.'
[The series is given in reverse order by Mr. Sinclair: -]
Thirteen knights a merry fighting.
Twelve hawks a merry hunting.
Eleven maids a merry meeting.
Ten hares a merry beating.
Nine hounds a merry hunting.
Eight bulls, they were brown.
Seven crowns a merry carolling.
Six swans a merry swimming.
Five geese, they were gray.
Four starlings.
Three gold rings.
Two pedricks.2
One peeping.
THE YORKSHIRE BITE (THE CRAFTY PLOUGHBOY).
The favorite broadside ballad of "The Yorkshire Bite" or "The
Crafty Ploughboy" was duly registered by Child (5 : 129) as a parallel
to "The Crafty Farmer" (No. 283), though not a version of it.3
Barry published a fragmentary copy, obtained in Boston from singing,
in this Journal, 1910 (23:451-452), with the tune, and added an
amusing and instructive traditional tale. A better text, from the
Child MSS., is given below; it was sent to Child in 1889. Professor
F. C. Brown (p. 7) reports (1914) the ballad as collected by Mrs.
John C. Campbell of Asheville, N.C.4 Dr. Bertrand L. Jones has
found it in Michigan.
"The Crafty Ploughboy" (sometimes with a sub-title, "The Highwayman
Outwitted ") occurs in the following Harvard broadsides:
25242.17, i, 86 (G. Jacques, Manchester); same, iii, 49 (J. Kendrew,
York); iv, 153 (W. R. Walker, Newcastle-upon-Tyne); ix, I113 (John
O. Bebbington, Manchester, and J. Beaumont, Leeds, No. 117);
xii, 64 (H. Such, No. 217); 25242.28 (no imprint); Irish broadside
in lot of Aug. 31, 1916 ("The Robber Outwitted"). An American
broadside of about 1820-30 has recently been acquired, " The Yorkshire
Bright . . . Printed and Sold at No. 25, High Street, Providence,
where are kept for sale Ioo other kinds Songs."
1 [That is, papyngo, parrot.]
SI[That is, partridges.]
3 ,, The Crafty Farmer" itself has not yet turned up in this country. It was published,
however, in The Universal Songster, or Museum of Mirth (London, 1825-26; also 1834),
2 :357-358, - a book whose title was copied by C. Gaylord, Boston, I835.
4 Compare JAFL 28 : 199.
368 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
It is still sung in England: see "Journal of Folk-Song Society,"
2 : 174-I16 ("The Lincolnshire, or Yorkshire, Farmer"). Greig has
found the piece in oral circulation in Scotland ("Yorkshire Farmer,"
"Folk-Song of the North-East," xxxv).
[The YorkshireB ite.]
From Child MSS., Harvard College Library, xxvii, 188 (I), written
down for Professor Child, April Io, 1889, by Mr. J. M. Watson, of
Clark's Island, Plymouth, Mass., as imperfectly remembered by him
from the singing of his father, Mr. A. M. Watson, of the same place.
At the same time Mr. Watson sent a very interesting version of
"Archie o' Cawfield," 1 also remembered from his father's singing.
i. If you please to draw near,
You quickly shall hear;
It is of a farmer who lived in Yorkshire.
A fine Yorkshire boy he had for his man,
And for to do his business: his name it was John.
Lod-le-tol, lod-le-tol, lod-le-tedle, lod-le-tay.
2. Right early one morning he called to his man;
A-coming in to him, he says to him: "John,
Here, take you the cow to the fair,
For she is in good order, and she I can spare."
3. The boy took the cow away in a band,
And arrived at the fair, as we understand;
A little time after he met with three men,
And he sold them the cow for a six pound ten.
4. They went into a tavern, 'twas there for to drink,
The farmers to pay the boy down his chink;
But while the highwayman was a-drinking of his wine,
He says to himself, "That money is mine."
5. (The boy speaks to the landlady about this conspicuous-looking
man, as to what he shall do with the money.)
"I will sew it in the lining of your coat," says she,
"For fear on the road robbed you may be."
6. (The boy starts on his way home on foot; the highwayman
follows him on horseback, and very politely offers him a lift on his
journey; the boy accepts his invitation and gets up behind him.)
7. They rode till they came to a dark, narrow lane;
The highwayman said, "I must tell you in plain,
Deliver that money without any strife,
Or else I shall surely take thy sweet life."
1 Printed by Child, No. 188 F (3 :494).
Ballads and Songs. 369
8. The boy he thought 'twas no time to dispute,
So he leaped from the horse without fear or doubt;
The money from the lining of his coat he tore out,
And among the long grass he did strow it about.
9. The highwayman got down from his horse;
Little did he think it was to his loss;
For while he was picking all the money that was strowed,
The boy jumped on horseback and home he rode.
Io. The highwayman shouted and bid him for to stand;
The boy didn't hear him, or wouldn't understand.
Home to his master he did bring
Horse, bridle, and saddle, and many a pretty thing.
I I. The maid-servant saw John a-riding home;
To acquaint the master she went unto his room.
"What! have you a cow turned into a horse?"
12. "Oh, no! my good master; your cow I have sold,
But was robbed on the road by a highwayman bold.
While he was picking up all the money that was strowed,
I jumped on his horse's back and home I rode."
13. The farmer he did laugh while his sides he did hold:
"And as for a boy, you have been very bold;
And as for the villain, you have served him very right,
For you have put upon him a true Yorkshire bite."
14. (They overhaul the holsters and find great store of treasure, -
diamond rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. The boy says, -)
"I trow,
I think, my dear master, I've oversold your cow."
[This paper was all in type before the appearance of " English Folk
Songs from the Southern Appalachians comprising 122 Songs and
Ballads and 323 Tunes collected by Olive Dame Campbell and Cecil
J. Sharp " (New York, Putnam, 1917).- G. L. K.]
of about 18oo or perhaps earlier (Angus, Printer),
entitled "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (Harvard College Library,
25242.5.5.149, No. 15), the series is, a partridge in a pear-tree, two
turtle-doves, three French hens, four colly birds, five gold rings,
"six geese a laying, seven swans a swimming, eight maids a milking,
nine drummers drumming, ten pipers playing, eleven ladies dancing,
twelve lords a leaping."
The following Shetland version, which resembles Chambers's text,
is in the Child MSS., iii, 17 (Harvard College Library). It was sent to
Child in I880 by Mr. Arthur Laurenson, who received it from Mr. R.
Sinclair, Jr., of Shetland, in whose handwriting it is.
Ballads and Songs. 367
Come now let me see
Who learns this carol and carries it for me.
The king sent his ladie the first Yule day
One peeping.'
[The series is given in reverse order by Mr. Sinclair: -]
Thirteen knights a merry fighting.
Twelve hawks a merry hunting.
Eleven maids a merry meeting.
Ten hares a merry beating.
Nine hounds a merry hunting.
Eight bulls, they were brown.
Seven crowns a merry carolling.
Six swans a merry swimming.
Five geese, they were gray.
Four starlings.
Three gold rings.
Two pedricks.2
One peeping.
THE YORKSHIRE BITE (THE CRAFTY PLOUGHBOY).
The favorite broadside ballad of "The Yorkshire Bite" or "The
Crafty Ploughboy" was duly registered by Child (5 : 129) as a parallel
to "The Crafty Farmer" (No. 283), though not a version of it.3
Barry published a fragmentary copy, obtained in Boston from singing,
in this Journal, 1910 (23:451-452), with the tune, and added an
amusing and instructive traditional tale. A better text, from the
Child MSS., is given below; it was sent to Child in 1889. Professor
F. C. Brown (p. 7) reports (1914) the ballad as collected by Mrs.
John C. Campbell of Asheville, N.C.4 Dr. Bertrand L. Jones has
found it in Michigan.
"The Crafty Ploughboy" (sometimes with a sub-title, "The Highwayman
Outwitted ") occurs in the following Harvard broadsides:
25242.17, i, 86 (G. Jacques, Manchester); same, iii, 49 (J. Kendrew,
York); iv, 153 (W. R. Walker, Newcastle-upon-Tyne); ix, I113 (John
O. Bebbington, Manchester, and J. Beaumont, Leeds, No. 117);
xii, 64 (H. Such, No. 217); 25242.28 (no imprint); Irish broadside
in lot of Aug. 31, 1916 ("The Robber Outwitted"). An American
broadside of about 1820-30 has recently been acquired, " The Yorkshire
Bright . . . Printed and Sold at No. 25, High Street, Providence,
where are kept for sale Ioo other kinds Songs."
1 [That is, papyngo, parrot.]
SI[That is, partridges.]
3 ,, The Crafty Farmer" itself has not yet turned up in this country. It was published,
however, in The Universal Songster, or Museum of Mirth (London, 1825-26; also 1834),
2 :357-358, - a book whose title was copied by C. Gaylord, Boston, I835.
4 Compare JAFL 28 : 199.
368 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
It is still sung in England: see "Journal of Folk-Song Society,"
2 : 174-I16 ("The Lincolnshire, or Yorkshire, Farmer"). Greig has
found the piece in oral circulation in Scotland ("Yorkshire Farmer,"
"Folk-Song of the North-East," xxxv).
[The YorkshireB ite.]
From Child MSS., Harvard College Library, xxvii, 188 (I), written
down for Professor Child, April Io, 1889, by Mr. J. M. Watson, of
Clark's Island, Plymouth, Mass., as imperfectly remembered by him
from the singing of his father, Mr. A. M. Watson, of the same place.
At the same time Mr. Watson sent a very interesting version of
"Archie o' Cawfield," 1 also remembered from his father's singing.
i. If you please to draw near,
You quickly shall hear;
It is of a farmer who lived in Yorkshire.
A fine Yorkshire boy he had for his man,
And for to do his business: his name it was John.
Lod-le-tol, lod-le-tol, lod-le-tedle, lod-le-tay.
2. Right early one morning he called to his man;
A-coming in to him, he says to him: "John,
Here, take you the cow to the fair,
For she is in good order, and she I can spare."
3. The boy took the cow away in a band,
And arrived at the fair, as we understand;
A little time after he met with three men,
And he sold them the cow for a six pound ten.
4. They went into a tavern, 'twas there for to drink,
The farmers to pay the boy down his chink;
But while the highwayman was a-drinking of his wine,
He says to himself, "That money is mine."
5. (The boy speaks to the landlady about this conspicuous-looking
man, as to what he shall do with the money.)
"I will sew it in the lining of your coat," says she,
"For fear on the road robbed you may be."
6. (The boy starts on his way home on foot; the highwayman
follows him on horseback, and very politely offers him a lift on his
journey; the boy accepts his invitation and gets up behind him.)
7. They rode till they came to a dark, narrow lane;
The highwayman said, "I must tell you in plain,
Deliver that money without any strife,
Or else I shall surely take thy sweet life."
1 Printed by Child, No. 188 F (3 :494).
Ballads and Songs. 369
8. The boy he thought 'twas no time to dispute,
So he leaped from the horse without fear or doubt;
The money from the lining of his coat he tore out,
And among the long grass he did strow it about.
9. The highwayman got down from his horse;
Little did he think it was to his loss;
For while he was picking all the money that was strowed,
The boy jumped on horseback and home he rode.
Io. The highwayman shouted and bid him for to stand;
The boy didn't hear him, or wouldn't understand.
Home to his master he did bring
Horse, bridle, and saddle, and many a pretty thing.
I I. The maid-servant saw John a-riding home;
To acquaint the master she went unto his room.
"What! have you a cow turned into a horse?"
12. "Oh, no! my good master; your cow I have sold,
But was robbed on the road by a highwayman bold.
While he was picking up all the money that was strowed,
I jumped on his horse's back and home I rode."
13. The farmer he did laugh while his sides he did hold:
"And as for a boy, you have been very bold;
And as for the villain, you have served him very right,
For you have put upon him a true Yorkshire bite."
14. (They overhaul the holsters and find great store of treasure, -
diamond rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. The boy says, -)
"I trow,
I think, my dear master, I've oversold your cow."
[This paper was all in type before the appearance of " English Folk
Songs from the Southern Appalachians comprising 122 Songs and
Ballads and 323 Tunes collected by Olive Dame Campbell and Cecil
J. Sharp " (New York, Putnam, 1917).- G. L. K.]
FOOTNOTES
1 The following lists and reports are cited by the name of the author in each case: Belden, A Partial List of Ballads and other Popular Poetry known in Missouri, 2d ed., I9I0 (Missouri Folk-Lore Society); Barry, privately printed list of ballads, etc.; Shearin
and Coombs, A Syllabus of Kentucky Folk-Songs, Lexington, Ky., I9I1 (Transylvania Studies in English, No. ii); Frank C. Brown, Ballad Literature in North Carolina (reprinted from Proceedings and Addresses of the Fifteenth Annual Session of the Literary
and Historical Association of North Carolina, Dec. 1-2, 1914); Bertrand L. Jones, Folk-Lore in Michigan (reprint from Kalamazoo Normal Record, May, 1814, Western State Normal School, Kalamazoo, Mich.); John H. Cox, reports of the West Virginia Folk-
Lore Society, in West Virginia School Journal and Educator (Morgantown, W.Va., vols. 44-46); Pound, Folk-Song of Nebraska and the Central West, Ig95 (Nebraska Academy of Sciences, 9 : No. 3).
2 Lonesome Tunes, Folk Songs from the Kentucky Mountains, the words collected and edited by Loraine Wyman, the Pianoforte Accompaniment by Howard Brockway, Volume One (New York, The H. W. Gray Co,. [I916]). VOL. XXX.-NO. 117.-19 283
[3] Compare Child's F (Kinloch's MSS.): "Did you ever travel twixt Berwick and
Lyne? " (I : 17).
[4] Hunts and Shaw were at this address during a part of 1836 and of 1837 only.
[5] The man asks, "O where are you bound, are you bound to Lynn?" The girl's
question is, "O where are you bound, are you bound to Cape Ann?"
[6] Or "said she would be."
[7] Or, "And take it to market where man never dwelled."
[8] On recent English tradition, see Sharp, One Hundred English Folksongs, No. i I, pp. xxi-xxii, 29-31 (" The Outlandish Knight").
[9] For recent English tradition add Journal of Folk-Song Society, 5 : 117-120, 122-123, 244-248; Broadwood, English Traditional Songs and Carols, pp. 96-99; Sharp, One Hundred English Folksongs, No. 18, pp. xxv-xxvi, 44-45.
[10] Compare Child's A, 10: "I leave her hell and fire."
11 Compare Belden's Partial List, No. 3.
12 Compare Focus, 3 : 394; Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 3, p. 3.
13 Compare st. 2 with C 2, D I; 4 with C 4, D 3; 5 with C 5, D 4; 6 with C 7, D6; 7 with C 9, D 7.
14 "'Brangywell' has the g hard: the word may be a phonetic degradation of Egrabel (see Child)" (Leather, p. 204).
15 Compare the fragment of two lines in Notes and Queries, Ioth Series, 2 : 128:-
Franky Well went out to plough,
He spied a lady on a bough.
16 Compare Pound, p. 10.
17 In lot No. 130. Deming was at 62 Hanover Street from 1832 to 1836.
18. 25242.5.13 F (281).
19 Belden's copy of the book lacked the title-page. The running heading of The Forget
Me Not Songster is "Popular Songs."
[20] See Child, I : 455, 476-477; 2 : 508-509; 3 : 507; 5 : 220.
21 "Indiana MS. book of ballads. Property of Edna Fulton, Lincoln," Neb. "Most
of the pieces in the book were entered before the Civil War."
22. Stanza 3, JAFL 28 : 150 ("From North Carolina; mountain whites; MS. lent E. N.
Caldwell; 1913").
23. Stanza 3, West Virginia School Journal and Educator, 46 : 20. This stanza is missing
in the variants collected by Miss Pettit (JAFL 20 : 251-252), Beatty (22 : 64-65), and
Miss Wyman (Lonesome Tunes, I : 58-61). So also in the text in Burne and Jackson,
Shropshire Folk Lore, pp. 547-548.
24. Bebbington, Manchester, No. 31.
25 Also in Child Broadsides (25242.5.6, No. 7).
26. J. H. Scourfield.
[27] See also Child's Ballads, I : 463.
28. The carol occurs in the broadside Divine Mirth, issued by Pitts and by J. & C. Evans
(Child MSS., xxiii, 54, articles I and 2: Harvard College). One stanza of the piece is
printed in Notes and Queries, 4th series, 3 : 75 (from tradition).
29 Barry prints a melody for "Young Hunting" in JAFL I8: 295 (cf. Barry's list,
No. i8).