My Golden Ball- Parrish (IL) 1945 McIntosh
[From: Hoosier Folklore, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Dec., 1948), pp. 97-100. My Golden Ball by David S. McIntosh. See Michigan 1915 version with similar text. See also Kittredge (1917 JOAFL) and the article by Gilchrist and Broadwood.
In The Gallows and the Golden Ball: An Analysis of "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (Child 95) by Ingeborg Urcia she writes:
In an appendix to Henderson's Folklore of the Northern Counties of England and the Border, Baring-Gould gives a version from Yorkshire to which a short introductory story is attached. This introductory story has two variants. In one form a girl is given a golden ball by a stranger, and for losing it is condemned to death. The other form of the story tells about a servant girl who has to clean a golden ball of a rich lady every day. Eventually she loses it and is supposed to be hung. In both cases the girl does not appeal to her relatives for money, but asks whether they have found the golden ball, which her lover finally brings. Here the relatives do not appear as cruel as usual, since the loss of the ball is not their fault and they may not have been able to find the ball. But even then they seem to gloat in her misfortune, having explicitly come to see her executed.
R. Matteson 2012]
MY GOLDEN BALL by David S. McIntosh
HOOSIER FOLKLORE; VOL. VII DECEMBER, 1948 NO. 4
Slack up the rope, slack up the rope, and wait a little while,
I think I see my father a-coming, out on that roving wild.
Father have you found my golden ball, and have you come to set me free,
or have you come to see me hung, all on this linden tree?
Mrs. Lessie Parrish of Carbondale, Illinois, recorded this ballad on November 15, 1945. She spent most of her life in Jackson County, Illinois. She was seventy-five years old when the recording was made.
Belden includes one version of this ballad under the title, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows."[1] The Missouri version is similar to the version from Mrs. Parrish in that it is a man who is freed from the gallows.
Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth include a number of versions of the text but no versions of the tune. They include several "cante-fables," or stories that are associated with this ballad.[2]
Sharp gives eleven versions of the ballad, including the tunes with the texts. The tunes are all different from the Parrish tune.[3]
My Golden Ball- Mrs. Lessie Parrish of Carbondale, Illinois 1945
A. 1. Slack up the rope, slack up the rope,
And wait a little while,
I think I see my father a-coming,
Out on that roving wild.
B. 2. Father, have you found my golden ball,
And have you come to set me free,
Or have you come to see me hung,
Out on this linden tree?
B. 3. I've not found your golden ball,
And I've not come to set you free,
But I have come to see you hung,
Out on this linden tree.
A. 4. Slack up the rope, slack up the rope,
And wait a little while,
I think I see my mother a-coming,
Out on this roving wild.
B. 5. Mother, have you found my golden ball,
And have you come to set me free,
Or have you come to see me hung,
All on this linden tree ?
B. 6. I've not found your golden ball,
And I've not come to set you free,
But I have come to see you hung,
Out on this linden tree.
A. 7. Slack up the rope, slack up the rope,
And wait a little while,
I think I see my brother a-coming,
Out on this roving wild.
B. 8. Next Brother, have you found my golden ball,
And have you come to set me free,
Or have you come to see me hung,
Out on this linden tree?
B. 9. I've not found your golden ball,
And I've not come to set you free,
But I have come to see you hung,
Out on this linden tree.
A. 10. Slack up the rope, slack up the rope,
And wait a little while,
I think I see my sister a-coming,
Out on this roving wild.
B. 11. Sister, have you found my golden ball,
And have you come to set me free,
Or have you come to see me hung,
Out on this linden tree?
B. 12. I've not found your golden ball,
And I've not come to set you free,
But I have come to see you hung,
Out on this linden tree.
A. 13. Slack up the rope, slack up the rope,
And wait a little while,
I think I see my true love coming,
Out on this roving wild.
B. 14. True love, have you found my golden ball,
And have you come to set me free,
Or have you come to see me hung,
Out on this linden tree?
B. 15. I have found your golden ball,
And I have come to set you free,
But Tve not come to see you hung,
Out on this linden tree.
"When I was just a kid and when I was in a rope swing out under the oak tree, I'd swing, swing, swing, and sing this song. I thought it was terrible the way it began, you know. "Well, you see, a boy was given this ball to take care of and the king told him that if he lost it, he'd hang him, and the boy lost it and nobody found it. They had him out there ready to hang him up, and he'd beg every time when he'd see some body else coming, to wait till they got there to see if they'd found the ball, and they all gave up but the sweetheart, and she didn't give up till she found it, and then she came with it and saved his life. That's what I thought was so wonderful, of course."
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, Illinois
Footnotes:
1 H. M. Beiden, Ballads and Songs (Columbia, Missouri: The University of Missouri Studies, Volume XV, 1940), pp. 66-67.
2. Phillips Barry, Fannie Hardy Eckstorm, Mary Winslow Smyth, British Ballads from Maine (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1929), pp. 206-213.
3. Cecil J. Sharp, English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians (London: Oxford University Press, 1932), pp. 208-214.