Little Matthy Groves- King (SC) 1913 Reed Smith A
[No informant given. From Reed Smith's South Carolina Ballads, 1928.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
A. Little Matthy Groves- Communicate by Mrs. John B. King (Williamston, SC) in 1913. The singer she secured it from had great difficulty in recalling the exact words.
1. Lord Donald's wife went out to town
To hear the Holy Word;
Little footpage was standing near,
A-listening what was said.
2. He heard her ask Little Matty Grove
To go home with her tonight,
To bed with her tonight.
3. He run, he run to the broad riverside,
And tuck to his belly and swum.
4. "Lord Donald, your wife went out to town to-day,
To hear the Holy Word;
And I heard her ask Little Matty Grove
Jo go home with her tonight,
To bed with her tonight."
5 "If this is a lie You've told to me
I'll hang you to a tree;
And if this is the truth you've told to me'
My daughter Your bride shall be'"
6. . . .
. . .
"I hear Lord Donald's horn a-blowing,
A-coming over the hill."
7. "Lie still, lie still, Little Matty Grove,
And go to sleep;
It's nothing but papa's little shipping boys
A-driving the lambs to the ford."
8. From that they fell to a chat of talk,
From that to a doze of sleep,
When they woke,
Lord Donald was standing at the feet.
9. "It's how do you like my bed?" he says;
"And how do you like my sheet?
And how do you like my gay lady
A-lying in your arms asleep?"
10. "I like your bed very well, Lord Donald,
And I like your sheet;
But I think more of your gay lady,
A-lying in my arms asleep."
11. "Rise you up, Little Matty Grove,
And draw on your fine suit;
For I don't want it said, when I am dead,
That I slewed a naked man."
12. (Here the singer recalls that Lord Donald had two very fine swords and gave Little Matty Grove, the best sword, as well as the first stoke.)
13. And very the first lick was Little Matty Grove's;
He caused the blood to run,
The very next lick was Lord Donald's,
He drove Little Matty Grove to the floor.
14. He set his gay lady on his knee,
(Asking her whom she loved best, Little Matty Grove or him.)
15. "I think very well of you, Lord Donald,
I think very well of your kin;
But I think heap more of Little Matty Grove
Than I do of you and your kin."
16. (He kills her, but singer could recall none of the exact words.)
17 (In the next measure to final stanza, the tune unexpectedly changes to a very gay measure)
18. "O, don't you hear them little birds sing?
O don't you hear them cry?
Lord Donald has killed two people today,
And tomorrow he must die, die,
And tomorrow he must die."