The Jolly Beggar- Murphy (Maine) 1942 Flanders
[Title is clearly wrong as it is not based on the text. I assume it was given by informant--it is the title of Child 279. From Ballads Migrant in New England; Flanders/Olney; 1953. This rare US version was collected by Flanders from Mrs. Harriet Gott Murphy, Rumford Center, ME, 1942. This ballad may date back 100 years or so depending on research into the Gott family, early settlers of Gott Island, Maine.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
THE JOLLY BEGGAR- Sung by Mrs. Harriet Gott Murphy, Rumford Center, ME, 1942;
The maid came tripping down the stairs,
Rings on her fingers and gold in her hair,
With a glass of wine all into her hands.
She gave it to the poor old beggar man.
Out of a tumbler he drank the wine;
Into the tumbler he slipped the ring.
She said, "Where did you get this-- by sea or by land,
Where did you get it---off the drowned man's hand?"
"I neither got it by sea or by land,
Neither did I get it from a drowned man's hand;
My mama[1] gave it to me on her courting day
And I'll give it back on her wedding day."
Rings from her fingers she did let fall,
Gold from her hair she did tear off,
Saying, "I'll go with thee forever, ever more,
If I have to beg my bread from door to door."
1. My sweetheart