Lady Margaret- McCabe (NL) 1929 Karpeles C
[My title - replacing the generic Child title. From Folk Songs from Newfoundland; Karpeles; 1934. Version B is sung by Mrs. Emma Boone and Version C by her song John McCabe. McCabe's text is given when it changes from his mother. Version D is sung by Zeala McCabe, who is likely John's daughter.
R. Matteson 2015]
[Lady Margaret] Sweet William's Ghost- Sung by John Mc Cabe at North River, Conception Bay, October 15, 1929. This is similar to his mother, Mrs. Emma Boone's version (B). Text from Folk Songs from Newfoundland.
Lady Margaret was sitting in her lonely bower,
Builded with lime and stone,
Lady Margaret was sitting in her lonely bower,
And she heard of a dismal moan.
O is it my father the king? she cries,
Or is it my brother John?
Or is it my true love William?
From Scotland he has come.
It's not your father the king, he cries,
Nor yet your brother John.
But it is your true love,William,
From Scotland he has come.
Do you bring to me any apparel, she said,
Or do you bring to me a ring,
Or do you bring to me any token at all
That a true love ought to bring?
I brought to you no apparel, he said,
I've brought to you no ring,
All I brought to you is my cold winding-sheet
That my poor body lies in.
There's one requestion I'll ask of thee,
I hope you will grant to me,
That is my faith and a troth, he said,
I leaved in pledge with thee.
Your faith and a troth, I'll not bring to you,
Or any such a thing,
Until you'll take me to yonder church
And wed me with a ring.
O God forbid, Lady Margaret, he said,
That any such thing should be,
That the dead should arise and marry the quick
And vanish away from thee.
She took her petticoats in her hands
And they above her knees,
And it's over the hills of a cold winter,s night
In a dead man's company,
They walked over hills and grassy plains
Till they came to a grassy grave.
There's my home, Lady Margaret, he said,
And the place where I'm to rest.
Have you any room at your bed's head,
Or any at your feet,
Or have you any room at all
That I lay down to sleep?
My father he's at my bed's head,
And my mother is at my feet,
And there's three hell hounds all around me
Waiting my poor soul to keep.
One of them's for my drunkenness,
And the other's for my pride,
And the other is for deluding a fair pretty maid
And staying out late by night.
She took her hand all from her side
And struck him all on the breast.
Here is my faith and a troth, Knight William,
God grant your soul to rest.
I thank you, Lady Margaret, he said,
I thank thee kinderly,
If the living is allowed to pray for the dead,
I hope you'll pray for me.