The Cambric Shirt- De Zavala (TX) 1913 Kittredge JAFL
[From Various Ballads (Cambric Shirt; Maid Freed from the Gallows; Mermaid; Sailor's Tragedy; John Hardy) by G. L. Kittredge
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 26, No. 100 (Apr. - Jun., 1913), pp. 174-182;
R. Matteson 2014]
I. THE CAMBRIC SHIRT
THIS version of Child, No. 2, was contributed by Miss Adina De Zavala, San Antonio, Tex. It came from Ireland (Dublin or thereabout). Cf. this Journal, vol. xix, p. 130; vol. xxiii, p. 430; Child, I, I9; V, 284.
I. As I roved out through a green bank's side,
- Every rose grows merry in time, -
I met a fair maid and she wore a green gown,
And she said she would be a true lover of mine.
2. I told her to make me a cambric shirt
- Every rose grows merry in time -
Without either seam or needlework,
Before she could be a true lover of mine.
3. I told her to wash it in a spring well
- Every rose grows merry in time -
Where it never sprung nor a drop never run,
Before she could be a true lover of mine.
4. I told her to dry it on a green thorn
- Every rose grows merry in time -
Where it never blossomed since Adam was born,
And then she could be a true lover of mine.
5. "Now, my young man, as you've said so,
- Every rose grows merry in time, -
I hope you will answer me as many more,
Before you can be a true lover of mine."
6. I told him to get me an acre of land
- Every rose grows merry in time -
Between the salt water and the sea sand,
Before you can be a true lover of mine.
7. I told him to plough it with a ram's horn,
- Every rose grows merry in time, -
And sow it all over with pepper and corn (or one pepper corn),
Before you can be a true lover of mine.
8. I told him to thresh it in an egg shell,
- Every rose grows merry in time, -
And sell it in a town where nobody dwells,
Before you can be a true lover of mine.
9. "Then, when you've done and finished your work,
- Every rose grows merry in time, -
Return to me and I'll give you the shirt,
And then you will be a true lover of mine."