The Twa Sisters- (O Father, Father, Swims a Swan) Kinloch c. 1826; Child S
[From Kinloch's manuscripts, 7 volumes, c.1826 or later. This fragment resembles the standard English (Child Y) and American texts. I assume the form is given in the first stanza which has some extra lines. No title is given. Here's the same form for stanza 2:
2 The miller he held out his long fish hook,
This story I'll vent to thee
The miller he held out his long fish hook,
And hooked this fair maid from the brook.
I'll prove true to my true love,
If my love prove true to me
R. Matteson 2014, 2018]
[O Father, Father, Swims a Swan] The Twa Sisters- S. Kinloch Manuscripts, vi, 89; Child 10- Version S
Kinloch Manuscripts, VI, 89, in Kinloch's hand.
1 * * * *
'O father, father, swims a swan,'
This story I'll vent to thee
'O father, father, swims a swan,
Unless it be some dead woman.'
I'll prove true to my true love,
If my love prove true to me
2 The miller he held out his long fish hook,
And hooked this fair maid from the brook.
I'll prove true to my true love,
If my love prove true to me
3 She offered the miller a gold ring stane
To throw her into the river again.
I'll prove true to my true love,
If my love prove true to me
4 Down she sunk, and away she swam,
Until she came to her father's brook.
I'll prove true to my true love,
If my love prove true to me
5 The miller was hung at his mill-gate,
For drowning of my sister Kate.
I'll prove true to my true love,
If my love prove true to me