Green Broom- Waugh (WV) 1924 Woofter-Combs
[This ballad is taken from Josiah Combs' Folk-Songs from the Southern United States. According to the editor Wilgus (of the reprinted edition), the last portion of this ballad, apparently, has been lost. What Wilgus didn't notice is that Woofter's text is surprisingly similar to the text from The Pearl Songster printed in the Journal of the American Folk-Lore, 1911. See both texts below which are nearly identical with minor changes.
Carey Woofter and by association and collaboration Patrick Gainer, both student collectors at the University of West Virginia have been suspected ballad recreators, that is, changing existing ballads from print sources and attributing them to local informants. Many times local slang was substituted and the names may have been changed to a local name. Accusations have come from both Linfors and to some extent Wilgus, who have published their suspicions in the JAFL. Gainer's versions were not published then, but he later published some of them; one would appear in print in two publications with the same identical version attributed to two different informants.
In this ballad, for example, "hawk" was changed to "hork" and "hare" was changed to "doe."
Combs, I believe, was not involved but some of his collection has been tainted. He was only guilty of not validating their (Woofter's) information and accepting it as true. The same can be said of Kyle Davis Jr. when he accepted ballads by the Smiths that he should have known were recreations.
Like Niles, they did collect folk songs and ballads. How do you decide what's real or a recreation?
R. Mattteson 2012]
Green Broom- Louis Waugh; Clarksburg, West Virginia 1924 Contributed by Carey Woofter- From Josiah Combs Folk-Songs from the Southern United States.
I'll lay you five hundred pounds,
Five hundred pounds to ten,
That a maid can't go to the green bloomfield
And come back a maid again.
Then up spoke a sweet young girl,
Her age was not sixteen:
"A maid I'll go to green- bloomfield
And a maid I'll come back again."
And when she went to the green- broomfield,
Where her lover was sound asleep,
With a grey goshork[1] and a green laurel twig,
And a green broom under his feet.
She pulled a bunch of the green broom,
And smelled of it so sweet,
She scattered a handful over his head,
And another under his feet.
And when she had done what she wagered to do,
She turned herself about,
She hid herself behind a clump of green brooms,
To hear what her lover should say.
And when he awoke from his sleep,
A fearsome man was he,
He looked to the east and he looked to the west
And he wept for his sweetheart to see.
And where were you, my grey goshork,
(That once I loved so dear),
That you did not awake me from out of my sleep,
When my sweetheart was so near?
If my hork had wakened me while I slept,
Of her I would have had my will,
Or the buzzards that fly high over the sky,
Of her flesh would have their fill.
Come saddle me my milk-white steed,
Come saddle me my brown,
Come saddle me my speediest horse,
That ever rode through town.
You need not saddle your milk-white steed,
You need not saddle your brown,
For a doe never ran through the street so fast
As the maid ran through the town.
[1. Goshawk]
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GREEN BROOM FIELD- The Pearl Songster (New York, C. P. Huestis, Publisher, 104 Nassau St., corner of Ann, 1846), p. 34.
I. I'll lay you down five hundred pounds,
Five hundred pounds to ten,
That a maid can't go to the green broom field,
And a maid return again.
2. Then quickly speaks a pretty girl,
Her age was scarce sixteen,
Saying, a maid I'll go to the green broom field,
And a maid I'll still be seen.
3. Then when she went to the green broom field,
Where her love was fast asleep,
With a grey goose hawk and a green laurel bough,
And a green broom under his feet.
4. She then plucked a sprig from out the green broom,
And smelt'd of it so sweet,
She sprinkled a handful over his head,
And another under his feet.
5. And when she had done what she thought to do,
She turned her steps away,
She hid herself in a bunch of green brooms,
To hear what her true love would say.
6. And when he awoke from out of his sleep,
An angry man was he,
He looked to the east and he looked to the west
And he wept for his sweetheart to see.
7. Oh ! where was you, my grey goose hawk,
The hawk that I lov'd so dear,
That you did not awake me from out of my sleep,
When my sweetheart was so near.
8. Come saddle me my milk-white steed,
Come saddle me my brown,
Come saddle me the fleetest horse,
That ever rode through town.
9. You need not saddle your milk-white steed,
You need not saddle your brown,
For a hare never ran through the street so fast
As the maid ran through the town.
10. If my hawk had awaked me when I was asleep,
Of her I would had my will,
Or the vultures that fly in the wood by night,
Of her flesh should have had their fill.