The Labors of True Lovers- (PA) 1860 Shoemaker
[From: North Pennsylvania Minstrelsy As Sung in the Backwood Settlements, Hunting Cabins and Lumber Camps in Northern Pennsylvania, 1840-1910; Compiled by Henry W. Shoemaker; 1919, page 114. The title could be "Strawberry Lane." Cf. Strawberry Lane: from Ballads and Songs by G. L. Kittredge; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 30, No. 117 (Jul. - Sep., 1917), pp. 283-369. Both are from same time period.
Shoemaker's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
Notes: Nursery ballad of I860 and earlier. Black Forest, of English origin. Collected by John C. French.
62—THE LABORS OF TRUE LOVERS
As I went a-walking up Strawberry Lane—
First Refrain: Every rose grows merry and fine—
I chanced for to meet a pretty, fair maid—
Second Refrain: Savory tree. Rosemary and Thyme,
She wanted to be a true lover of mine.
"You'll have for to make me a cambric shirt—
First Refrain:
"And every stitch must be finicle work—
Second Refrain:
"Before you can be a true lover of mine.
"You'll have for to wash it in a deep well—
First Refrain:
"Where water never was, nor rain ever fell—
Second Refrain:
"Before you can be a true lover of mine.
"You'll have for to dry it on a great thorn—
First Refrain:
"That never was green since Adam was born—
Second Refrain:
"Before you can be a true lover of mine.
She Replies:
"Now, since you have been so hard with me—
First Refrain:
"Perhaps I shall be as hard upon thee—
Second Refrain:
"Before you can be a true lover of mine.
"You'll have for to buy me an acre of land—
First Refrain:
"Lying between the salt sea and the sand—
Second Refrain:
"And then you shall be a true lover of mine.
"You'll have for to plow it with a ram's horn—
First Refrain:
"And plant it all over with one grain of corn—
Second Retrain:
"And then you shall be a true lover of mine.
"You'll have for to thresh it in an eggshell—
First Refrain:
"And take it to market in one thimble—
Second Refrain:
"And then you can be a true lover of mine."