Pretty Nancy- Young (ME) 1870 Barry B
[Barry, Eckstrom, and Symthe; British Ballads from Maine, 1929. Mrs. Susie Carr Young of Brewer, Maine, collected songs from the singing of Mary Soper Carr, her grandmother who died in 1869, at the age of seventy-two.
R. Matteson 2014]
THE FALSE-HEARTED KNIGHT (Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight, Child 4)
B."Pretty Nancy." Written down by Mrs. Susie Carr Young, who learned it in Orland, in 1870. Melody recorded by Mr. George Herzog.
1 As I sat down to muse awhile,
To think what I had done,
To think that I had placed my mind
When I was boy so young.
2 As I rode by a farmer's door,
A beauty did me surprise,
With rosy blushes on her face
And diamonds in her eyes.
3 "Come away, come away, my pretty Nancy,
Come hear what I have to say;
Tonight we will ride over London Bridge,
And married there will be.
4 "Go get some of your father's gold,
And some of your mother's fee,
The two best horses in your father's barn,
Out of the thirty-three."
5 She got some of her father's gold,
And some of her mother's fee,
The two best horses in her father's barn,
Out of the thirty-three.
6 She mounted on the milk-white steed,
He rode the bonny gray;
They rode along by the greenwood side
Till they came to the salt sea.
7 "Take off, take off that gay clothing;
Take off, take off," said he;
"For six kings' daughters I've drowned here
And you the seventh shall be."
8 "O turn your back unto the oak,
Your eyes unto the sea;
For it is a pity a man like you
A naked woman should see."
9 He turned his back unto the oak,
His eyes unto the sea;
Sink him up in her arms so brave,
And flung him into the sea.
10 "Lie there, lie there, my false lover,
Lie there instead of me;
If six Kings' daughters you've drowned there,
Go keep them company."
11 She mounted on the milk-white steed,
She led the bonny gray;
She rode along by the greenwood side
And got home before it was day.
12 And then upspake the pretty parrot,
Who in his cage did lay;
Saying, 'Where have you been my pretty Nancy
This long, fine summer's day?"
13 "O hold your tongue, you saucy thing,
Go tell no tales of me;
And you cage shall be lined with eastern gold,
With a silver lock and key."
14 And then upspake the old father,
Who in his bed did lay,
Saying, "What is the matter, my pretty polly,
That you are calling so soon for day?"
15 The cat she lay at my cage door,
She swore she would me slay;
And I have been calling for pretty Nancy
To drive the cat away."
In this text, stanzas 8 and 13 are unusual, while the first two seem to belong to some other song. Stanza 3, with its reference to London and its naming the maid as Nancy, allies this to another version not uncommon in Maine, found a number of times in fragments.