The Cartin Wife- Pother (NC) 1943 Niles C
[From: The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles, 1961. The title is certainly Niles--I don't believe this is wholly traditional- but with Niles you can never be sure how much is a rewrite. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
The Cartin Wife- Sung by Fred Pother; Cashiers NC, June 1943 (Niles No. 33 D) (Minor mode on A)
1. "Old woman, old woman, come tell of us true,
You once had boys of one, two, three,
But now you cry far more than enough
To get them back to thee, to thee."
2. "I wish the wind would never blow,
And the flood would never tide,
For my three boys are gone from me
Over the ocean so wide, so wide.
"I am no very cartin wife,
I do no man a harm,
But my three boys are dead of the ague,
When they were once live and warm, and warm."
She's made a bed, and a very fine bed,
And she set out bread and wine,
But neither would ever a one of them eat
For fear they had not time, not time.
Then crowed the cock, and a very red cock,
Then up and crowed the gray,
When the three of all the little boys
Said, "Christ bids us away, away."
"Oh Mother dear, You sent us off
When we shoulda stayed near by,
And now our Saviour calls us on
To our home beyond the sky, the sky."