Cambric Shirt- Shriver (IL) 1936 Brewster E
[My title. From Brewster: Ballads and Songs of Indiana; 1940. There's no explanation about this ballad being from Illinois. Brewster's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2011]
THE ELFIN KNIGHT (Child, No. 2)
Five variants, all more or less fragmentary, of this ballad have been recovered in Indiana. They correspond most closely to Sargent and Kittredge A, although, as is usually the case in ballads of this type, all traces of the wooer's supernatural character have disappeared.
For American texts, see Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, p. 3 (four variants and two airs) ; Gray, p. 78 (one variant) ; Journal, VII, 228; XVIII, 49, 212; XIX, 130; XXIII, 430; XXVI, 174; XXX, 283; PTFLS, X, 137; Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands, p. 31 (fragment).
English texts are to be found in Sharp, Folk-Songs of England, III, 21; Greig, Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads and Ballad Airs, 1-2 (two airs); Baring-Gould, A Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes, p. 3; Broad-wood and Maitland, English County Songs, p. 12 (with air); Journal of the Folk-Song Society, I, 83; II, 212; III, 274.
The ballad seems to be known locally as "The Two Lovers" or "I Want You to Make Me a Cambric Shirt."
E. No title given. [ Cambric Shirt] Communicated by Mrs. Mary J. Shriver, of East St. Louis, Illinois. January 24, 1936.
1. "Go make for me a cambric shirt,
Rose merry and time,*
Without seam or needlework;
Then you shall be true lover of mine.
2. "Go buy for me an acre of land,
Rose merry and time,
Between the salt water and the sea sand;
Then you shall be true lover of mine.
3. "...........................
..........................
Plant it all o'er with one grain of corn;
Then you shall be true lover of mine."
* Rosemary and thyme?