Pretty Fair Maid- Haden (IN) 1938 Lomax REC
[My title. Text from: Toward the Indexing of Ballad Texts by George List; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 81, No. 319 (Jan. - Mar., 1968), pp. 44-61.
R. Matteson 2014]
Pretty Fair Maid- ATL 427.11. No title. Sung by Mrs. Margaret Haden, Princeton, Indiana, April 9, 1938. Recorded by Alan and Elizabeth Lomax for the Library of Congress.
1. "Pull off, pull off, that costly gown
And hang it on yonder tree
For it is too costly [to]
Lie moldering in the sea."
2. "Turn yourself around and about
And view the green leaves on the tree,
While I pull off my costly gown
And hang it on yonder tree."
3. He turned himself around and about
To view the green leaves on the tree.
She picked him up so manfully
And plunged him into the sea.
4. "O, help me out, you pretty, fair maid,
O help me out," said he.
"And all the ... I've made to you
I'll double them unto thee."
5. "Lie there, lie there, you ugly scamp,
Lie there, lie there," said she.
"If six king's daughters you've drownded here
And [the seventh] you shall be."