The Hangman's Tree- gullah (SC) 1923 Parsons; Reed Smith
[No informant named. From Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons (1874-1941), "Folk-lore of the Sea islands, South Carolina [1923]" p. 199. Also Reed Smith's article "Gullah," Bulletin of the University of South Carolina, November, 1926. Partially reprinted by Smith (3 stanzas- which equal one stanza) in Five Hundred Years of the Maid Freed from the Gallows in South Carolina Ballads, 1928.
His notes from "Five Hundred Years" follow. Additional stanzas from Bronson TTCB, II, 1963. I've spent some time on St. Helena's Island when I lived in Beaufort, SC.
R. Matteson 2015]
From St. Helena Island[9] just off the coast of South Carolina, a complete Gullah[10] Negro variant was recently recorded.[11] It follows the usual triad pattern. The air and the first three stanzas (given as stanza 1) are as follows:
THE HANGMAN'S TREE
[music]
1. Hangman, hangman, swing yer rope!
Jus' tarry a little while,
For yonder comes my mother.
Jus' tarry a little while
Dear mother, dear mother,
An have you any gol'?
"Oh no, my chil'! Oh, no, my chil'!
Fo' hang-in' you shall be hung."
2. Hangman, hangman, swing yer rope!
Jus' tarry a little while,
For yonder comes my father.
Jus' tarry a little while
Dear father, dear father,
An have you any gol'?
"Oh no, my chil'! Oh, no, my chil'!
Fo' hang-in' you shall be hung."
3. Hangman, hangman, swing yer rope!
Jus' tarry a little while,
For yonder comes my brother.
Jus' tarry a little while
Dear brother, dear brother,
An have you any gol'?
"Oh no, my chil'! Oh, no, my chil'!
Fo' hang-in' you shall be hung."
4. Hangman, hangman, swing yer rope!
Jus' tarry a little while,
For yonder comes my dear sister.
Jus' tarry a little while
Dear sister, dear sister,
An have you any gol'?
"Oh no, my chil'! Oh, no, my chil'!
Fo' hang-in' you shall be hung."
5. Hangman, hangman, swing yer rope!
Jus' tarry a little while,
For yonder comes my lover.
Jus' tarry a little while
Dear lover, dear lover,
An have you any gol'?
"Oh yes, my love! Oh, yes, my love!
Fo' hang-in' you shall not be hung."
Footnotes:
9 St. Helena has a population of approximately 6000 Negroes and 60 white people. The Penn School, founded during the War between the States, was the first school for Negroes in the South supported by Northern funds. It has been brought to a high degree of efficiency by Miss Rossa B. Cooley, who went there in 1903. It dominates the island settlement, and has had a tremendous influence upon it - so much so that the St. Helena Negroes are considerably above their racial average in most ways.
10 For a discussion of the origin, dialect, etc.,of the Gullah Negroes, see the writer's monograph, "Gullah," Bulletin of the University of South Carolina, November, 1926.
11. See footnote 10