The House Carpenter- Federer (WV) 1917 Cox B
[From: Folk-Songs of the South; John Harrington Cox- 1925. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2013]
25. JAMES HARRIS (THE DAEMON LOVER) (Child, No. 243)
Twenty-one variants have been found in West Virginia, under the titles: "The House Carpenter," "The House Carpenter's Wife," and "The Salt Water Sea" (cf. Cox, xlv, 159). The story is virtually the same in all the variants.
In the main, the West Virginia variants agree very closely with Child B, but contain here and there stanzas that show relations to other Child versions. The returned lover has lost all trace of the "Daemon," unless such a trace is found in A 13, 14.
For a list of American texts see Journal, xxx, 325; xxxv, 346. Add Campbell and Sharp, No. 29 (North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee); Pound, No. 17 (Illinois; same as Journal, xxvi, 360); Minish MS. (North Carolina); Bulletin; Nos. 6-11.
B. "The House Carpenter." Communicated by Mr. Greenland Thompson Federer, Morgantown, Monongalia County, January, 191 7; taken from an old manuscript song book owned by Lizzie Kelly, Independence. A name at the end of the ballad seems to indicate that it was taken down from the dictation of Mary Guseman.
1 "Well met, well met, my own true love,
Well met, well met!" cried he;
"I have just returned from the salt, salt sea;
It was all for the love of thee.
2 "I could have married the king's daughter,
And vain [1] she'd 'a' married me;
But I refused all her crown of gold,
'T was all for love of thee."
3 "If you could have married the king's daughter,
I am sure you are much to blame;
For now I am married to a house carpenter,
And I think him a nice young man."
4 "O won't you forsake your house carpenter
And go to sea with me?
I will take you down where the grass grows green,
On the banks of sweet Italy."
5 "If I forsake my house carpenter
And go to sea with you,
what have you to support me on
And keep me from slavery?"
6 "I've seven ships all on the sea,
All sailing for dry land;
I've a hundred and ten of the finest waiting men,
That shall be at your command."
7 She took her babe up in her arms
And gave it kisses three:
"Stay at home, my sweet little babe,
And keep your papa company."
8 She dressed herself in rich appearl, [2]
Most beautiful to behold;
And she walked down by the river-side,
She shone like glittering gold.
9 She had not been on the sea two weeks,
I 'm sure it was not three,
Till this fair lady began to weep:
She wept most bitterly.
10 "And is it for my gold you weep,
Or is it for my store?
Or is it for your house carpenter,
That you never will see any more?"
11 "It is not for your gold I weep,
Nor is it for your store;
But it is for that sweet little babe,
That I never shall see any more."
12 She had not been on the sea three week,
1 'm sure it was not four,
Till from the deck she sprang a leak,
And she sank to rise no more.
13 The captain, crew, tried to save,
But it was all in vain;
She sank, O she sank to the bottom of the sea,
And she sleeps in a watery grave.
14 now her child is growing up,
Her husband doing well,
While this fair lady lies in the bottom of the sea,
And her soul is doomed to hell.
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1 For fain.
2 Apparel.