Loving Henry- Pettit (KY) pre1907 Kittredge
[Ballads and Rhymes from Kentucky by G. L. Kittredge; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 20, No. 79 (Oct. - Dec., 1907), pp. 251-277. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
THE following ballads and rhymes from the mountains of Kentucky were collected recently by Miss Katherine Pettit of Hindman, Knott County, in that State. Miss Pettit has had the kindness to send the material to the Journal for publication.
LOVING HENRY
This is an interesting and genuinely traditional version of Child's No. 68, " Young Hunting." It is nearest to version F. For stanza 8 compare version D, stanza 10.
1. "Get down, get down, loving Henry," she said,
"And stay all night with me;
But there['s] another girl in the Urgent land,
That you love better than me."
2. "I could get down if I would get down,
And stay all night with you,
But there is a girl in the Urgent land
That I love better than you."
3. As he leaned over his saddle skirts,
To kiss her rosy cheeks,
All in her right hand she held a sharp knife,
And in him she plunged it deep.
4. "I could have got down if I would got down,
And stayed all night with you,
For there is no other girl in this wide world
That I love better than you."
5. "Must I ride east ? Must I ride west?
Or anywhere under the sun,
To get the doctor so kind and good,
To cure this wounded one?"
6. "You needn't to ride east, nor you needn't to ride west,
Nor anywhere under the sun,
For there is no other but God alone
Can cure this wounded one."
7. She took him by his lily-white hand,
And led him across the yard;
She pitched him in that doomful well,
Where the water is cold and deep.
8. "Lie there, lie there, loving Henry," she said,
"Till the meat drops off your bone,
For there 's a little girl in the Urgent land
That will mourn for your return."
9. As she was on her way back home,
Little birdie was sitting on a limb;
"Go home, go home, you cruel little girl,
And there lament for him."
10. "Fly down, fly down, little birdie," she called,
"And sit on my right knee,
For the costly cords that's around my waist
Will be supplied to thee."
11. "I could fly down if I would fly down,
And sit on your right knee;
But the way you murdered your own true love,
Surely you would murder me."
12. "I wish I had my cedar bow,
My arrow and my string;
I would shoot a diamond through your heart,
And you'd no longer sing."
13. "Although you have no cedar bow,
No arrow nor no string,
So I'll fly to the tops of some tall tree
And there I'll sit and sing."