Sweet William- Perry (GA-NC?) c.1916 Brown E
[Usually the title for Child 74. This is version E from Brown Collection of NC Folklore Vol. 2. The collector, Isabel Rawn, of the Mount Berry School, Mount Berry, Ga., collected ballads in Georgia, and sent them to Campbell as early as 1908. All the the ballads in EFSSA are surely from Rawn through Campbell. Apparently Rawn married c. 1916 and became Mrs. T. L. Perry (this date has not been confirmed but was implied in Brown Vol. 2). What's confusing is why these are North Carolina ballads and not Georgia ballads. In the notes for another ballad in the Brown collection the editor comments about Rawn, "Some of her findings, and perhaps this, were made in Cherokee county, in the southwest corner of the state." The informant and location should be known in order for the ballad to be considered a North Carolina ballad.
The "swalls" in stanza 9 is "smalls" but it refers to the small of the back not "small-clothes, breeches" as in Brown's footnote (see below). The extended last line is found in some versions and is a common form of "Lord Lovell."
Notes from the Brown Collection follow,
R. Matteson Jr. 2014]
OLDER BALLADS MOSTLY BRITISH
Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight (Child 4)
For the history of this ballad in many lands and tongues, see Child's headnote in English and Scottish Popular Ballads and Grundtvig's in Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, and for its occurrence since Child's time in the British Isles and in America, see BSM 5-6 — and add to the references there given Arkansas (OFS I 47), Florida (FSF 237-41), and Missouri (OFS I 45-6). It is a favorite among the ballad singers of North Carolina; Mrs. Sutton reports that it was sung by Mrs. Hall in Buncombe county, by Mrs. Gordon in Henderson county, by Mrs. Brown in Avery county, and others. Mrs. Steely records three texts, with tunes, found in the Ebenezer community in Wake county. The name of the heroine varies. Most often it is Polly. The names Clovanne (in version C) and Cold Rain (in version D) may be assumed to derive from the May Colvin of British broadside versions. The villain, if named at all — as generally he is not in the North Carolina versions — is William. All three of the scenes that make up the story, the elopement, the drowning, the dialogue with the parrot, are present in all the North Carolina versions, even the much reduced F. Versions D, E, and G show the shift of grammatical person from the first person to the third which is so frequent in traditional balladry.
E. 'Sweet William.' Communicated by Mrs. T. L. Perry, who earlier under her maiden name of Isabel Rawn had made numerous and valuable contributions of North Carolina folk song to the JAFL. It is amusing eloping couple as going off in the stagecoach harnessed to the dappled grey — see stanza 13. One wonders what relation, if any, existed in the singer's mind between the Sweet William whose grave they drive to in stanza 5 and the Sweet William who is the villain of the story. This version also has the shift of person, not passing definitely to the third person until stanza 9.
1 Sweet William rode across the Darkely Mountain
And he first came a-courting of me me,
And he first came a-courting of me.
2 He followed me up and he followed me down
And he followed me into my little chamber
Where I had no tongue for to say him nay
Nor had no wings for to fly away.
3 He told me to take my father's gold
And part [of] my father's fee
And the milk-white stage and the dappled gray,
And the milk-white stage and the dappled gray.
4 I took my father's gold
And a part [of] my father's fee
And the milk-white stage and the dappled gray,
And the milk-white stage and the dappled gray.
5 We rode the milk-white stage
And drove the dappled gray,
We rode, we rode to the grave of Sweet William
One hour before it was day day,
One hour before it was day.
6 Up spake this false young William and this he did say:
'Light down here, pretty Polly, light down here beside of me;
For three young maids I have drowned here
And the fourth one you shall be be,
And the fourth one you shall be.
7 'Pull off that costly robe
And hang it on my knee;
For it cost too much money
To rot in the sea sea,
To rot in the sea.'
8 'Oh, turn your back upon me,
Upon the naked leaf tree,
For a naked woman is a sinful sight
For a man to see see,
For a naked woman is a sinful sight
For a man to see.'
9 He turned his back upon her.
Upon the naked leaf tree;
She picked him up by the middle of the swalls*
And tossed him into the sea sea,
And tossed him into the sea.
10 'Lay there, lay there, you false young man,
Lay there in the place of me;
For three fair maids you have drowned here
And the fourth one yourself shall be be,
And the fourth one yourself shall be.'
11 'Oh, give me your hand, pretty Polly,
Oh, give me your hand, I pray;
You shall not drown in the sea,
But be my bride today day,
But be my bride today.'
12 'Lay there, lay there, you false young man,
Lay there in the place of me;
For three fair maids you have drowned here
And the fourth one yourself shall be be,
And the fourth one yourself shall be.'
13 She rode the milk-white stage
And drove the dappled gray,
She drove, she drove to her father's house
One hour before it was day day,
One hour before it was day.
14 Up spake her kind old father
And this he did say;
'What made you rise, pretty Polly,
An hour before it was day day,
And hour before it was day?'
15 Then spake her little parrot
And this it did say:
'The cat ran across my cage door
And she came for to drive it away away,
And she came for to drive it away.'
16 'Oh, hold your tongue, my pretty little bird,
And tell no lies on me;
I will line your cage in yellow beaten gold
And hang it on the naked leaf tree tree,
And hang it on the naked leaf tree.
17 'Oh, hold your tongue, my pretty little bird,
And tell no lies on me;
I will dress your cage in ribbon fine
And hang it on the naked leaf tree tree,
And hang it on the naked leaf tree.
[* Is this miswritten — or misread — for "smalls," i.e., small-clothes, breeches?]