The Two Brothers- Decker (NL) 1959 Peacock
[From: Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 3, pp. 827-828, by The National Museum Of Canada (1965), Kenneth Peacock. This rare version from Canada follows the "Lord Lovell" form.
R. Matteson 2014]
The Two Brothers- Collected in 1959 from Charlotte Decker of Parson's Pond, NL, by Kenneth Peacock.
Two nice little boys were going to school,
They walked all alone;
They wished they had gone to their neighbor's house,
To pay their welcome home, home,
To pay their welcome home.
"Oh, can you toss the ball," said he,
"Or can you sling a stone?"
"I am too small and I am too young,
Dear brother, leave me alone, lone,
Dear brother, leave me alone."
He then took out his little pen-knife,
And threw him on the ground;
He plunged it in his tender heart,
And the blood came streaming down, down,
And the blood came streaming down.
"Oh you take off my Holland shirt,
And tear it from gore to gore;
And wrap it around my deadly wound,
Dear brother, will it bleed any more, more,
Dear brother, will it bleed any more?"
Oh he took off his Holland shirt,
And tore it from gore to gore;
And wrapped it around his deadly wound,
But it bled still more and more,
But it bled still more and more.
"On Saturday night when you go home,
My mother will ask of me;
You tell her I've gone to see Jesus at school,
Where all the good scholars go, go,
Where all the good scholars go.
"On Saturday night when you go home,
My father will ask of me;
You tell him I'm dead and in my grave,
And buried in Johnstreet town, town,
And buried in Johnstreet town."