Willie Came Over the Ocean- Rickman (MO) 1909; Belden B
[From Ballads and Songs; Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society; Belden 1940.
R. Matteson 2014]
B. 'Willie Came over the Ocean.' Secured by Miss Hamilton, 1909, from Julia Rickman, one of her pupils in West Plains High School.
'Willie came over the main, wide ocean,
'Willie came over the sea,
'Willie came over the main, wide ocean,
-Willie came courting me.
I had no mind to tell him go away,
My mind was tell him sit down.
. . .
My mind was tell him sit down.
'Hand me down your father's gold,
Likewise your mother's too,
Away we will go to the marigold country,
The length of a long summer day.'
She handed him down her father's gold,
Likewise her mother's too.
Away they went to the stable door,
Took choice of twenty and two.
He mounted upon the bally brown,
She took the dapple gray;
Away they went to the marigold country,
The length of a long summer day.
'Pull off your lily-white robe
And deliver it up to me.
It is too fine and cost too much
To rot in the bottom of the sea.'
She pulled off the lily-white robe
And delivered it up to him,
For it was too fine and cost too much
To rot in the bottom of the sea.
'Turn your face to the green willow tree
Your back to the bottom of the sea.'
'Six Queen ladies have I drowned here
And the seventh one you shall be.' [1]
She turned her face to the green willow tree,
Her back to the bottom of the sea;
She gathered him around. the slender waist
And dipped him into the sea.
'Lie here, lie here, you cruel-hearted man,
Lie here in the place of me.
Six Queen ladies have you drowned here,
The seventh one you shall be.'
She mounted upon the bally brown
And led the dapple gray.
When she got home to her father's house
It was three long hours until day.
'Hold your tongue, my pretty little parrot,
Tell no tales on me;
Your cage shall be of the yellowest gold
And hang in the green willow tree.'
1. This speech-appears to be misplaced-perhaps because of American squeamishness about mention of a 'naked woman' In 'she' and 'her' in the next two' lines should be 'he' and 'his.'