Polly- Pearle Webb (NC) c. 1922 Brown C
[From: Brown Collection of NC Folklore II; 1953. Their notes follow. This is an extended US version similar to E, by Hilliard Smith. It has the "ship sinking- gore of blood" ending. Music below --upcoming.
R. Matteson 2016]
64. The Gosport Tragedy
Of the many ballads sung in America about the man who murders his sweetheart, sometimes from jealousy but more often because, having got her with child, he wants to be rid of her — 'Florella,' 'Oma Wise,' 'Pearl Bryan,' 'Leo Frank and Mary Fagan,' etc. — two go back definitely to English broadsides : 'The Gosport Tragedy' ('Pretty Polly,' 'The Cruel Ship's Carpenter') and 'The Wexford Girl' ('The Oxford Girl,' 'The Lexington Girl,' 'The Wittam Miller,' 'The Berkshire Tragedy'). Much alike in plot and sometimes fading into one another, they may conveniently be distinguished by certain items in the story. In 'The Gosport Tragedy' the killer tells his victim that he has been digging her grave all the night before; in 'The Wexford Girl' he explains the blood on his clothes by saying that it was 'bleeding at the nose.' These items mark the respective original broadsides and can be traced through most if not all the later traditional versions.
The earliest known form of 'The Gosport Tragedy' is a "garland" in the Roxburghe collection (Roxb. Ballads viii 143-4, 173-4), dated by Ebsworth "circa 1750." In modern times it has been reported from tradition in Sussex (JFSS i 172-3), Nova Scotia (BSSNS 96-8), Virginia (SharpK i 326-7, SCSM 131-4), West Virginia (FSS 308-10), Kentucky (JAFL xx 261-4, where Kittredge points out in a note that the Harvard Library has copies of both the original garland and later English broadsides, JAFL xiii 276-8, LT 79-81, BKH 69-70, SharpK i 319-20, 321-5, FSSH 229-30, 222; it is listed also in Shearin's syllabus), Tennessee (ETWVMB 74-5. SharpK i 318-19, BTFLS iii 85), North Carolina (SharpK I 317, 320-1. 327, SCSM 128-31, SSSA 53-4, JAFL xiv 134-5). Georgia (JAFL xiiv 107-8, FSSH 231-2), Florida (FSF 341-2), Missouri (OFS 11 112-14), and Indiana (BSI 298-9). It is perhaps worth remarking that with the exception of Mackenzie's Nova Scotia text it does not appear in the Northeast.
There is an excellent recording of a Virginia version of 'The Gosport Tragedy,' under the title 'Pretty Polly,' in the Library of Congress. Music Division, Archive of American Folk Song (Folk Music of the United States, Album I), which, according to Alan Lomax, illustrates unconscious editing of the English broadside by the American folk. "The product of this process of folk editing — Pretty Polly — is The American Tragedy in six brilliant stanzas (the same subject that occupies a ponderous volume in Theodore Dreiser's work of that name)."
C. 'Polly.' Another text furnished by Miss Webb. Very much reduced, and differing in other ways.
1 'Oh, Polly, oh, Polly, oh, Polly,' said he,
'Oh, now do consent and be married to me.'
'No, William, no, William, no, William,' said she,
'I am too young to be married to thee.'
2 'Oh, Polly, oh, Polly, oh, Polly,' said he,
'Now do consent, and a friend we'll go see.'
Immediately he took her by her lily-white hand.
He led her through sorrow, grief, sorrow, and woe.
3 He led her over hills and through valleys so deep,
And at last pretty Polly began for to weep.
'Oh, William, oh, William, you're leading me astray
On purpose my innocent body to betray.'
4 'Oh, yes, my pretty Polly, now you have guessed right.
I was digging your grave the best part of last night.'
They went a little further before she did spy
Her grave ready dug and a spade a-setting by.
5 She threw her arms around him, said: 'Don't you infer?'[1]
How can you kill a girl that loves you so dear?'
6 He opened her bosom that was whiter than- snow,
And out of her eyes the tears they did flow.
He pierced her to the heart, which caused the blood to flow.
And down in her grave her pale body he throwed.
7 He covered her up and turned round to go home,
Leaving only small birds to lament or mourn.
He went to the ship that was on the other side
And he swore by his Maker that he'd sail the other side.
8 He hoisted the sails and away he did ride,
A-thinking of poor Polly, how hard she had died.
He sailed all along till his heart did contend.
The ship struck a rock and to the bottom it went.
9 Then he saw his pretty Polly all floating in blood.
The scips and her screams she banished away.
A debt to the devil — a due was paid.[2]
1. The other texts throw no light on this unintelligible passage. [the Brown footnote precedes - this line is usually "suffers no fear" and may have not been understood by the collector and/or informant]
2. The last two lines are unintelligible as they stand, though the general idea is that the vision of the murdered girl vanishes away in a scream and the murderer is seized by the devil. [Smith has "Such screaming and hallowing, has all passed away," another line is missing before the last.]
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Music from Volume 4
A. 'Polly.' Miss Pearle Webb. No date or place given. Although the tune is totally different, the text is very closely related to that of 'The Cruel Ship's Carpenter.' Cf. SharpK I 317, No. 49A.
Scale: Hexatonic (3). Tonal Center: d. Structure: abab (4,4,4,4) = aa (8,8',)