Butcher's Boy- Mrs. Willox (Aber) c1908 Greig G
[Not a title given by informant-- since Butcher Boy is not mentioned in text-- my date, from: The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection - Volume 2, p. 46; No. 200 by Gavin Greig, James Bruce Duncan, Patrick N. Shuldham-Shaw Emily B Lyle; Peter A Hall; Aberdeen U.P., 1983.
The opening is missing, and the beginning dialogue is different.
R. Matteson 2016]
G. The Butcher's Boy- sung by Mrs. Willox, Aberdeenshire, collected Grieg c. 1908.
1. Mary, my dear Mary,
Will you take a walk with me
That we may tell the tales of love,
And fix our wedding day?
2. Willie, my dear Willie,
I will take a walk with you
That we may tell the tales of love,
And fix our wedding day.
3. They walked a mile out of town
A mile not scarcely one,
When he pulled a branch from off a tree,
And he boldly knocked her down.
4. She fell upon her bended knee,
And did for mercy she cry,--
"Willie dear, just spare me a while
for I am not yet ready to die."
5. He took her by the lily-white hand,
And dragged her to the river,
There he lowered he slowly down,
Without shedding a tear.
6. He went into his mother's house
At twelve o'clock at night,
Little did his mother think
What was going about.
7. Willie, my dear Willie,
What stains your hands and clothes?"
The answer that he gave to her
"Was a blooding at the nose."
8. He asked her for a candle,
To let him see to bed,
Likewise for [a] handkerchief,
To roll around his head.
9. All that long, long, wintry night,
No rest could Willie find,
For the thought of what he had done
And[Came] a rolling in his mind.
10 next day the body it was found,
A-floating down the river,
Floating by his brother's door,
At Londonderry Town.