Butcher Boy- Mrs. G. V. Easley (MS) 1926 Hudson A
[Ballads and Songs from Mississippi by Arthur Palmer Hudson; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 39, No. 152 (Apr. - Jun., 1926), page 122. Hudson endorses Cox's 1925 notes.
R. Matteson 2017]
A. Butcher Boy. Contributed by Mrs. G. V. Easley, Tula, Mississippi, from a MS. sent her by her relative, Mr. Z. J. Jenkins, a former resident of Calhoun County. For references see Cox, No. 145.
1. Down in a village where I did dwell
A Butcher Boy I loved him well.
He courted me both night and day,
Till he courted my poor heart away.
2. There was a house in the same old town,
There he would go and he'd set down,
And take strange girls upon his knee,
And tell them things he won't tell me.
3. If that ain't grief, I don't see why,
Because they wear more gold than I.
But the gold will rust and the silver fly,
And then they'll be as poor as I.
4. Oh, when I had both silver and gold,
He would follow me through heat and cold;
But now I'm poor, got no rich kin,
He will pass by, but won't call in.
5. I ran upstairs to make my bed,
And nothing to my mother said.
She quickly followed after me,
Saying, "Daughter, what can the matter be?"
6. It was late in the night when father came home,
Saying, "Where has my daughter gone?"
He ran upstairs and behind the door
He found his daughter hanging low.
7. He taken his knife and cut her down,
And in her hand these lines he found:
"Oh, what a fool it is of me
To hang myself for the Butcher Boy!
8. "Go dig my grave both wide and deep;
Place a marble stone at my head and feet.
And at my breast a snow-white dove,
To show the world I died for love."