Hangman- (NY) pre1939 Thompson
[From: Body, Boots and Britches, Thompson, 1939 p.397. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
One of the most opportune of escapes from love's trials is told in the old British ballad of The Maid Freed from the Gallows. I have not found so enchanting a melody as Dean Smith discovered in South Carolina, but here is a pretty good example of the text, from Eastern New York, ultimately from Rensselaer County:
"Hangman, hangman, hold the rope!
Hold it for a while.
I think I see my father coming,
Coming on the mile.
Father, did you bring me gold,
Or come to set me free?
Or did you come to see me hang
Upon that willow tree?"
"Daughter, I did not bring you gold,
Nor come to set you free,
But I have come to see you hang
Upon that willow tree."
In succeeding stanzas she appeals to mother, brother, sister, uncle, auntie, and cousin, all of whom are equally frank and discouraging about their intent to see her hung. Finally appears the sweetheart, who replies to her query:
"Sweetheart, I did not come to see you hung
Upon that willow tree;
I did not bring you gold,
But I have come to set you free."