The House Carpenter- Bryant (IN) 1935 Brewster C
[From Brewster: Ballads and Songs of Indiana; 1940. His notes follow,
R. Matteson 2013]
21. JAMES HARRIS (Child, No. 243)
Nine variants and two melodies of this ballad have been recovered, all nine of the variants being closely related to Child B, though with occasional touches of other versions. As usual, the lover has lost all traces of his demoniac character, and, too, many details of the original version have disÂappeared. The story as told in the Indiana texts is briefly this: A sailor returns to find his old sweetheart happily married to a house carpenter, and the mother of a child (or two) by him. By specious promises the former lover persuades the wife to desert husband and baby and go with him. She soon discovers her mistake, however, and begins to weep for the child left behind. The ship springs a leak and sinks to the bottom of the sea, bearing her with it. Some variants contain a stanza in which she voices a curse upon deceiving sailormen, or a warning to other wives. The "hills of heaven and hell" stanzas do not appear in Indiana versions.
For American texts, see Barry, No. 11; Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, p. 304; Belden, No. 11 (fragment); Brown, p. 9; Campbell and Sharp, No. 29; Cox, p. 139; Davis, p. 439; Hudson, No. 19; Hudson, Folksongs, p. 119; Journal, XIX, 295; XX, 257; XXV, 274; XXX, 325; XXXV, 346; XXXVI, 360; XLII, 275; XLIX, 209; Pound, Ballads, p. 34; Sandburg, p. 66; ScarÂborough, Song Catcher, p. 151; Shearin, p. 3; Shearin and Combs, p. 8; Smith, p. 151; Thomas, p. 172; Wyman and Brockway, Songs, p. 54; PTFLS, X, 159; Smith and Rufty, American Anthology, p. 46; Henry, Songs Sung in the Southern Appalachians, p. 59; Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands, p. 113; Cox, Traditional Ballads, pp. 38, 41, 43, 45; BFSSNE, VII, 11; Randolph, Ozark Mountain Folks, p. 201.
C. "The House Carpenter." Contributed by Mrs. Thomas M. Bryant, of Evansville, Indiana. Vanderburg County. November 15, 1935.
1. "We've met! we've met! my own true love;
We've met, we've met," says he;
"I've come all the way from the saltwater sea
All for the love of thee.
2. "I could have married a king's daughter fair,
And she would have married me,
But I refused a crown of gold
All for the sake of thee."
3. "If you could have married a king's daughter fair,
I'm sure you are to blame;
For I have married a house carpenter,
And I think he is a nice young man."
4. "If you will forsake your house carpenter
And go along with me,
I'll take you where the grass grows green
On the banks of sweet Calvaree."
5. "What have you there to maintain me on,
Keep me from slaveree?"
"I have twenty ships all landed in port
And twenty more on sea."
6. She took her babe up in her arms
And gave it kisses three,
Saying, "Stay at home, you dear little one,
And keep your pa companee."
7. She dressed herself in robes of green,
Most glorious to behold;
And as she walked down through the street,
She glittered like some gold.
8. They hadn't been gone but about two weeks,
I'm sure it was not three,
Until this fair damsel began for to weep,
And wept most bitterlee.
9. "Is it for my gold that you weep,
Or is it for my store,
Or is it all for the sake of the house carpenter
You left on the other shore?"
10. "It is not for your money that I weep,
Neither is it for your store;
It is all for the sake of that dear little babe
That I never can see any more."
11. They had not been gone but about three weeks,
I'm sure it was not four,
When this gallant ship sprung a leak under deck,
And her weeping was heard no more.