Mr. Woodburn's Courtship- Mulcher(MI) 1934; Gardner B
[No title given, assigned from Gardner A. From Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan, page 139; Emelyn Elizabeth Gardner, Geraldine Jencks Chickering - 1939, version B. Their notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
48. MR. WOODBURN'S COURTSHIP (Captain Wedderburn's Courtship, Child, No. 46) The Michigan texts are similar to Child A and B, although somewhat shorter. None of the Child texts has the story told in the first person throughout, as does For other English texts see Greig, pp. 33-36, and Ord, pp. 416-420. For American texts see Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, pp. 93-99; Mackenzie, pp. pp. 14-15; and Scarborough, pp. 230-231.
B. [Mr. Woodburn's Courtship] sung by Charles Mulcher, Kalkaska, Michigan, 1934. learned in a Pennsylvania lumber camp.
As I took a walk one May morning down by John Sander's lane,
Who should I spy but a pretty little maid, the keeper of the game.
I says to her, "My pretty fair maid, if it wasn't for the law,
I'd take you in my arms and roll you over next to the wall."
Says she, "Get away, you silly lad, and do not be perplexed,
Before you could lie in bed with me you must answer questions six,
Six questions you must answer me and I will ask them all,
Then you and I in bed can lie and you lie next to the wall.
"Now what is rounder than a ring, what's higher than the trees?
What's worse than woman's tongue, what's deeper than the seas?
What bird sings first, and what one best, and where does the dew first fall?
And you and I in bed can lie and you lie next to the wall."
"This earth is rounder than a ring, heaven's higher than the trees,
The devil's worse than woman's tongue, hell's deeper than the seas.
The lark sings first, the hackey bird best, and the earth's where the dew first falls,"
And then I took this fair maid in my arms and rolled her over next to the wall.