Two Sisters- Joyce (ME) c1867 Barry D
[From British Ballads from Maine; Barry, Eckstorm, Smyth, 1929.
R. Matteson 2014]
D. "Two Sisters." Taken down, September 8, 1927, from the recitation of Mrs. Oliver K. Joyce of Gott Island, off Mount Desert, aged seventy-four years, who said that this was the way the ballad was sung on that island sixty years before.
1 "Sister, let's go down to the stream
And see the ships as they sail in."
2 Then they went down to the stream,
And the elder pushed the younger in,
Bow you down to me.
3 "O sister, help me out by the hand,
And you shall have my house and land."
4 "I will not help you out by the hand,
And I will have your house and land."
5 "Sister, help me out by the glove,
And you shall have my own true love."
6 "I will not help you out by the glove,
And I will have your own true love."
7 First she sank and second she swum
Till she reached the miller's dam.
8 The miller reached over with his hook
And caught her by the petticoat.
9 The miller stripped her from toe to chin
And then he flung her in again.