An Old Man's Courtship- McPherson (OK) 1937 Moore A
[From Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest by Ethel and Chauncey O. Moore; 1964.
R. Matteson 2014]
A. An Old Man's Courtship. Recited by James McPherson of Tulsa. Mr. McPherson had lived in Tulsa for forty-two years when he gave us this ballad in 1937.
[spoken] The old man asked the girl what she wanted for supper, and this is what she said:
"I will have to my supper a chicken without a bone,
I will have to my supper a cherry without a stone,
I will have to my supper a bird without a gall,
Before I'll lie in your bed, between you and the wall."
[spoken] He laughed at her and said there wasn't such a thing to be got, and she explained:
"When the chicken's in the shell, I'm sure it hath no bone,
When the cherry's in the bloom, I'm sure it hath no stone,
The dove is a gentle bird, it flies without a gall;
I'll neither eat with you here nor lie against the wall."
[Spoken] Then he tries to outwit her again:
"What is greener than the grass? What is higher than a tree?
What is worse than woman's voice? What is deeper than the sea?
What buds first in spring, and dew doth on them fall?
Or you must lie in my bed, between me and the wall."
[Spoken] At first she lets him think she's ignorant, but she's smarter than he is. She answers:
"Hollin that's a tree's greener than the grass;
Heaven's higher than a tree;
A devil's worse than a woman's voice, hell is deeper than the sea;
The hedge buds first and dew doth on them fall;
So I'll not lie in your bed, between you and the wall."
[Spoken] This made him angry because she had outsmarted him, and he said he'd have nothing more to do with her.