My Rambling Young Son- Kinkaid (MO) 1880 Belden D
[From Ballads and Songs collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society, 1940, ed. Belden. An excerpt of his notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
The name of the poisoned one varies greatly; one name, Tyranty, belongs exclusively, so far as the record goes, to New England. The poisoner is commonly the victim's sweetheart, but may be his stepmother, his grandmother, his sister, his wife, or even (BBM version N) himself.[1] The poison is commonly snake venom (often described as 'eels' or spotted, striped, or speckled fish caught in a hedge or ditch ) but may be simply 'bread and poison' or 'a cup of cold poison'; in Child M it is apparently and in the Cumberland version listed above it is specifically toads. Altho there is little if anything that is distinctive in the Missouri versions, it seems best to give them here for the benefit of future students of this particular ballad story.
1. In a text from family tradition in Vermont given me in 1920 by Mr. P. G. Perrin the poisoner is 'grandpa'!
D. 'My Rambling Young Son.' Communicated by Leroy Kinkade in 1922 from his mother's singing, who learned it from her mother in Harrison County in the 80s of the last century. He did not remember all of it.
'O where have you been, my rambling young son?
O where have you been, my hand,some young man ?'
'f 'r'e been to my sweetheart's; mother, make my bed soon,
For I'm weary with riding and wish to lie down.'
'Have you been to your dinner, my rambling young son ?
Have you been to your dinner, my handsome young man ?'
'Yes, I've been to my dinner and ate a half a snake's head,
And I'm sick to my heart, and I wish to lie down.'
'What d.o you will to your father ?'
'My horses and cattle.'
'What do you will to your mother?'
'My bed and my bedding.'
'What do you will to your brother?'
'My horse and my saddle.'
''What do you will to your sister ?'
'My . . . .
'What do you will to your sweetheart, my rambling young son ?
'What do you will to your sweetheart, your sweetheart less none?'
'Oh, hell and damnation I mother, make my bed soon,
For I'm sick to my heart, and I wish to lie down.'