The Farmer's Daughter- Jenkins (OK-AR) pre1964
[From: BALLADS AND FOLK SONGS OF THE SOUTHWEST- Moores 1964. This ballad probably dates back to pre1928 when Jenkins lived in Arkansas but it's impossible to tell for certain. Their notes follow.
R. Matteson 2013]
49 The Suffolk Miracle
The Suffolk Miracle (Child, No.272) was included in the Child collection "because in a blurred, enfeebled, and disfigured shape, it is representative in England of one of the most impressive and beautiful ballads of the European continent" (see Child, V, 58). It probably originated among the Slavs. For other references, see Barry Eckstorm, and Smyth, 314; Cox, 152-53; Creighton and Senior, 88-90; Davis, 482-84; Journal, Vol. XLVII, (Cox); Morris, 315-16; Randolph, I, 179-80;and Sharp, I, 261-66.
The Farmer's Daughter- sung by Mrs. Allen Jenkins of Salina. Mrs. Jenkins was born at Boxley, Arkansas, and came to Oklahoma in 1928. She learned this song from her aunt, Mrs. Dora Eoff of Kingston, Arkansas.
In London city there did dwell
A wealthy farmer I knew full well.
He had a lovely daughter fair,
Her beauty was beyond compare.
A young man in the village by,
On this lovely maid he cast an eye.
He loved her so he could not rest
Until this maiden he possess
He courted her heart away,
With her true love she longed to be,
Which when her father came to hear,
He parted her and her poor dear.
A hundred miles away she was sent
To her brother's house for to repent.
This broke this young man's tender heart,
To think that he and his love must part.
He mourned for her both day and night;
This young man was an awful sight.
He sighed, he grieved, he mourned, he pled.
In six short months this youth was dead.
At the midnight hour on a winter's night
A horse rode up to her brother's gate.
He asked her brother for his fair delight;
He'd take her to her father this night.
Her father's horse full well she knew;
Her mother's blanket on the dapple gray.
In his hand he carried her father's request,
That with him she should come away.
She mounted the horse, her love behind;
They flew as fast as any wind.
In half the night or a little more
He brought her to her father's door.
As they approached her father's gate,
He did complain his head did ache.
In speed she took her handkerchief out
And tied his aching head about.
When they were at her father's door,
The sight of her love she saw no more.
"You're welcome home, my daughter dear.
What trustful friend has brought you here?"
"My own true love he brought me here
At my father's request and mother's heed,
Which made the hair to stand on the old man's head,
To think he'd been for six months dead.
When the truth this fair maid came to know,
She grieved as to how things should be.
In six short months she was laid by the side
Of her love who gave her such a frightful ride.