The Mermaid- Crawley (KY) 1942 Niles A
[From The Ballad Book- John Jacob Niles. The third stanza is very unusual and is found only in Niles (as far as I know) and in Sharp B. This relates to Child A, stanza 3 and of course is Niles 3rd stanza.]
The Mermaid (Niles No. 62 A) Crawley brothers, Luke and Brent; 1942
1. One Saturday night, as we set sail,
Not very far from land,
We there did spy a pretty mermaid
With a comb and a glass in her hand,
With a comb and a glass in her pretty, pretty hand,
With a comb and a glass in her hand.
2. This pretty mermaid sprung into the sea,
The storm hit began to roar.
The snow and rain come thick and fast:
"We'll never see land any more,
We'll never see land any more, more, more,
We'll never see land any more."
3. The first one on deck was the captain of our ship,
With a plumb and a line in his hand,
He plumbed and he plumbed and he plumbed for to see
How far it was to the sand,
How far it was from the sea to the sand,
How far it was to the sand.
4. The next one on deck was the mate of our ship,
And a well-looking man was he,
"My wife and my child are in Merry England,
And tonight a widow she'll be,
And tonight a widow she'll surely, surely be,
And tonight a widow she'll be."
5. The next one on deck was our little cabin boy,
And a very pretty boy was he,
"Oh what, oh what will my mother say
When she knows I'm drownded in the sea,
When she knows I'm drownded in the salt, salt sea,
When she knows I'm drownded in the sea?"
6. Oh three times 'round went our gallant ship,
And three times more went she,
And as the storm did rage and roar,
She sank to the bottom of the sea,
She sank to the bottom of the deep blue sea,
She sank to the bottom of the sea.