Barbara Allen- Huffman (IN) 1936 Brewster G
[From: Brewster; Ballads and Songs of Indiana, 1940. Most of the ballads were collected in 1935 and 1936.
R. Matteson 2012]
15. BARBARA ALLEN (Child, No. 84)
"Barbara Allen" easily ranks first among Indiana ballads in point of number of versions recovered. Fourteen texts have been collected, ranging in length from seventeen stanzas to two. The ballad is known in this state as "Barbara Allen" or "Barbary Allen."
Both the A and B versions of Child are found, and sometimes there are combinations of the two. The hero appears as "Sweet William," "Young William," "Jemmy Groves," "Johnnie Green," and "Willie Green." The "rose-and-brier" ending occurs in eight of the versions.
For American texts, see Barry, No. 22; Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, p. 195; Campbell and Sharp, p. 90; Cox, p. 96; Davis, p. 302 and p. 577; Hudson, No. 13; Hudson, Folksongs, p. 95; Journal, VI, 132; XIX, 286; XX, 256; XXII, 63; XXVI, 352; XXVIII, 144; XXIX, 160,198; XXX, 317; XXXV, 343; XXXIX, 97, 211; XLII, 268, 303; XLVI, 28; XLIX, 207-8; Jones, p. 301; Greenleaf and Mansfield, p. 26; Mackenzie, Ballads, p. 35; Mackenzie, p. 100; McGill, p. 39; Pound, Ballads, p. 7; Sandburg, p. 57; Scarborough, p. 59; Scarborough, Song Catcher, p. 83; Shearin, p. 3; Shearin and Combs, p. 8; Smith, pp. 13, 20; Smith, Ballads, p. 129; Thomas, p. 94; Wyman and Brockway, p. 5; Randolph, The Ozarks, pp. 183-85; Smith and Rufty, American Anthology, pp. 30-36; Cambiaire, East Tennessee and Western Virginia Mountain Ballads, pp. 66-6$; Fauset, Folk-Lore from Nova Scotia, p. 113; BFSSNE, X, 23-24 (Maine); PTFLS, X, 146; Neely, Tales and Songs of Southern Illinois, pp. 138-39; Gordon, Folk-Songs of America, p. 69; Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands, p. 80.
British: Greig, Last Leaves, pp. 67-70; Williams, Folk-Songs of the Upper Thames, pp. 204, 206; JFSS, I, 111, 265; II, 15, 80; Journal of the Irish Folk-Song Society, I, 45
G. "Barbara Allen." Contributed by Mrs. Alidore Cassidy Huffman, of Tell City, Indiana. Perry County. March 15, 1936.
1. All in the merry month of May
When the green buds were a-swelling,
Little Willie Green on his deathbed lay,
In love with Barbara Allen.
2. He sent his servant through Charlestown
To the place where she was dwelling,
Saying, "Here is a letter from my master dear
If your name be Barbara Allen."
3. Slowly, slowly she rose up,
And slowly went unto him;
And, sighing, said when she got there,
"Young man, I think you're dying."
4. "O yes, I'm sick and very sick;
I feel my cold corpse coming,
But one sweet kiss from your sweet lips
Would keep me from a-dying."
5. "O mind you not, young man," said she,
"As you sat in the tavern,
You pledged the health of ladies all around,
But you slighted Barbara Allen ?"[1]
6. Slowly, slowly she rose up,
And slowly, too, she left him,
And, sighing, said she could not stay
Since breath of life had left him. [2]
7. "Little Willie Green died for me last night;
I'll die for him tomorrow;
I do not care to live any more
In this cold world of sorrow."[3]
8. They buried him by the church steeple high,
And buried her beside him;
And out of his grave there grew a red rose
And out of hers grew a briar.[4]
9. They grew and grew to the top of the spire
Until they could grow no higher;
They turned and tied in a truelover's knot,
The red rose and green briar.
Footnotes:
1. This seems to be more closely related to Child A than to any other of the Cf. Child A, 5:
"O dinna ye mind, young man," said she,
"When ye was in the tavern a drinking,
That ye made the healths gae round and round,
And slighted Barbara Allen?"
2. For Since death of life had reft him. Cf. Child A, 7:
And slowly, slowly raise she up,
And slowly, slowly left him,
And sighing said, she could not stay.
Since death of life had reft him.
3. The last two lines of this stanza sound suspiciously modern.
4. There has been a transposition here, with a resulting loss of rhyme.