Young Henry- Bresnehen (Mo.) c.1875 Kittredge
[From Ballads and Songs by G. L. Kittredge; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 30, No. 117 (Jul. - Sep., 1917), pp. 283-369. Reprinted by Belden 1940. Kittredge's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2012, 2104]
YOUNG HUNTING (Child, No. 68).
A copy of the version current in America under the name of "Love Henry," "Loving Henry," or "Lord Henry," was contributed to this Journal by Miss Pettit in 1907 (20 :252-253), as taken down in Knott County, Kentucky. It is nearest to Child's (Motherwell's MS.). A similar text ("Love Henry") was printed some years ago in Delaney's "Scotch Song Book No. I," p. 6 (New York, William W. Delaney).' Variants of this version are reported by Mrs. Olive Dame Campbell, "The Survey" (New York, Jan. 2, 1915), 23:373; Cox, 45: 160 (cf. JAFL 29 :400); Smith, Bulletin, No. 5, p. 6; Shearin and Combs, p. 8; Belden, No. 3; JAFL I8 : 295. Interesting variants of "Loving Henry" have been communicated recently by Miss Loraine Wyman, Professor Belden, and Mr. Wallace C. Wadsworth.
II. [ Young Henry.]
Written down by Miss Vivian Bresnehen of Brookfield, Mo., from the singing of her father, who learned it from a hired man on the farm when he was a boy, in Linn County, about 1875. Communicated by Professor Belden, I917.
1. "Light down, light down, Young Henry," she said,
"And spend a night with me:
Your bed shall be made of the softest down;
'Tis the best I can give thee."
2. "I won't light down, I can't light down,
And spend a night with thee:
There's another girl in Archer's land
I love much better than thee."
3. As he bent over his saddle-bow,
To give her kisses three,
With the little penknife in her right hand
She pierced his heart full deep.
4. "Fie, fie, fair Eleanor," he said,
"Why did you do that to me?
There's not another girl in all the land
I love as well as thee."
5. "Live half an hour, Young Henry," she said,
"Live half an hour for me,
And all the men in our town
Shall give relief to thee."
6. "I can't live half an hour," he said,
"I can't live half an hour for thee,
For don't you see my own heart's blood
Welling out of me?"
7. Some took him by his yellow hair,
And others by his feet,
And threw him into a pool of water
That was both cold and deep.
8. "Lie there, lie there, Young Henry," she said,
"Till the flesh rots off your bones;
And that pretty girl in Archer's land
Shall long for your return home."
9. A pretty parrot swinging in a willow tree,
Hearing all they had to say,
Said, "Yes, that pretty girl in Archer's land
Shall long for his return home."
10. "Fly down, fly down, pretty parrot," said she,
"And alight on my right knee,
And your cage shall be made of the yellow beaten gold
And swing in the willow tree."
11. " I can't fly down, I won't fly down,
I won't fly down," said he,
"For you have murdered your own true love
And soon would you murder me."
12. "If I had a bow in my right hand,
And an arrow to the string,
I would shoot you a dart right through the heart,
That you never should sing again."
13. "If you had a bow to your right hand,
And an arrow to the string,
I would raise my wings and fly away;
You never should see me.