Pretty Nancy- Black (ME) 1928 Barry E
[Barry, Eckstrom, and Symthe; British Ballads from Maine, 1929.
R. Matteson 2014]
E. [Pretty Nancy] No title. Fragment, from the singing of Mrs. Sarah (Robinson) Black, southwest Harbor, September, 1928. Melody recorded by Mr. George Herzog, Bimodal air: Dorian, Aeolian.
1 "Go get me some of your mother's gold,
Some of your father's fee,
And we will ride side by side,
. . . .
2 She mounted on her milk-white steed,
And led the dapple gray,
When she arrived at her father's house
Three hours before it was day.
3 The parrot he began to talk
And unto her did say:
"O Nancy, O Nancy, where have you been
All on this long summer's day?"
4 "O parrot, O parrot, hold your tongue,
Do not tell no tales of me,
Your cage shall be covered all over with gold,
And hung on the willow tree."
5 The o1d folks heard the parrot talk
And unto him did say:
"O parrot, O parrot, what makes you talk
So long before it is day?"
6 "The old cat stands at my cage door
And threatens [me to slay] [1]
I'm only calling the pretty Nancy
To drive the pussy away."
1. Sung, "my cage door."
Here again as in the two preceding texts, the lady is called Nancy. Though recorded a long distance apart, they seem to belong to the same form of the ballad. In other texts she is called Polly, and there is no question about it being the maid's name and not the parrot's. The name of the girl may prove an important point in separating two forms of the old ballad. The next text, though not strictly a Maine item, is important because it six times calls the girl Polly, and it also contains the reference to the nettle" (or "brier") which marks the old Roxburghe text.