Barbara Allen- Williams (MO) pre-1906 Belden H
[From: Old-Country Ballads in Missouri II by H. M. Belden; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 19, No. 75 (Oct. - Dec., 1906), pp. 281-299, version F.
Also in Ballads and Songs, 1940- version H. This was published in 1906 but Belden dates it 1909- apparently it's misprinted.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
CHILD 84. - Barbara Allen
H. BARBARA ALLEN. -Sent in by C. H. Williams of Bollinger County. From his mother's singing.
'T was in the merry month of May,
When all green buds were swelling,
Sweet William on his deathbed lay
For the love of Barbara Allen.
He sent his servant down to town,
The town where she was dwelling,
Saying "Master 's sick and sends for you,
If your name be Barbara Allen."
Slowly, slowly she rose up
And slowly she walked over;
And as she drew the curtain by,
"Young man, I think you're a-dying.
"Yes, I am sick, and very sick,
And this will be my calling,
For none the better I'll ever be
If I don't get Barbara Allen."
"Yes, you are sick, and very sick,
And this will be your calling;
For none the better you'll ever be,
For you won't get Barbara Allen."
He turned his pale face to the wall
And bursted out a-crying
She was not more than a mile from town
When she heard the death-bell tolling;
And every time it seemed to say,
"Hard-hearted Barbara Allen."
Sweet William died on Saturday night
And Barbara died on Monday;
And her mother for the love of them both
Died on Easter Sunday.
They buried sweet William in one churchyard
And Barbara in another,
And out of his grave there grew a rose
And out of hers a briar.
They grew and they grew to the church steeple top,
Where they could grow no higher,
And there they tied a true-love knot,
And the rose twined round the briar.