US & Canada Versions: 87. Prince Robert
[There are two US versions (see below) reported and both from unreliable sources.
From Folk-Songs of the Southern United States, by Josiah Combs, 1925; edited Wilgus 1967. According to Wilgus, "Harry Saunders" was contributed by F. C. Gainer; Tanner, Gilmer county, West Virginia. Wilgus adds probably contributed by Carey Woofter in 1924. This "source" was certainly supplied by Patrick Gainer, his grandson. Patrick and Carey Woofter were collecting buddies and both were students at West Virginia University.
Fifty years later in Patrick Gainer's book Folk Songs from the West Virginia Hills, pp. 61-62 the ballad is from the singing of a Mrs. Nan Wilson of Nicholas County, West Virginia. The only previously reported version, in Combs, was from the singing of F. C. Gainer (p. 204), who was Francis C. Gainer, the grandfather of Patrick Gainer. Patrick certainly knew of the other version and changed his only slightly. Not only did Gainer never say his grandfather knew the ballad, he attributed his version Nan Wilson, who, as far as I can tell, is a fictitious person.
Thus the only two US versions ever found were supplied by Woofter and Gainer!!! These versions are most certainly ballad recreations based on print. All the versions contributed by Woofter or Gainer should be considered questionable. The "Saunders" versions are based on Child B:
'Earl Robert'- Version B; Child 87 Prince Robert
Motherwell's Manuscript p. 149; Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 200; from the recitation of Mrs. Thomson, Kilbarchan, a native of Bonhill, Dumbartonshire, aged betwixt sixty and seventy.
1 It's fifty miles to Sittingen's Rocks,
As eer was ridden or gane;
And Earl Robert has wedded a wife,
But he dare na bring her hame.
2 His mother, she called to her waiting-maid,
To bring her a pint o wine:
'For I dinna weel ken what hour of the day
That my son Earl Robert shall dine.'
3 She's put it to her fause, fause cheek,
But an her fause, fause chin;
She's put it to her fause, fause lips,
But never a drap went in.
4 But he's put it to his bonny cheek,
Aye and his bonny chin;
He's put it to his red rosy lips,
And the poison went merrily doun.
10 She called to her waiting-maid,
To bring her a riding-weed,
And she called to her stable-groom,
To saddle her milk-white steed.
11 But when she came to Earl Robert's bouir,
To the middle of a' the ha,
There were bells a ringing, and sheets doun hinging,
And ladies mourning a'.
12 'I've come for none of his gold,' she said,
'Nor none of his white monie,
Excepting a ring of his smallest finger,
If that you will grant me.'
13 'Thou'll not get none of his gold,' she said,
'Nor none of his white monie;
Thou'll not get a ring of his smallest finger,
Tho thy heart should break in three.'
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
CONTENTS:
1) Harry Saunders- Gainer (WV) c.1924 Combs/Woofter (see text below)
2) Harry Saunders- Wilson (WV) 1975 Gainer (see text below)
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Prince Robert [26] (Child No. 87) (From Folk-Songs of the Southern United States; 1925 (Wilgus edition, 1967). Known by the title "Harry Saunders." Contributed by F. C. Gainer, Tanner, Gilmer Co., West Virginia by Woofter (c. 1924).
And it's forty miles to Nicut Hill,
The nearest way you may go;
But Harry Saunders has taken a wife
That he dares not to bring home.
His mother called to her hired girl
"Sally, draw me a cup of tea,
For I see my son Harry is coming
To eat a meal with me."
His mother lifted the cup of tea,
And touched her lips to the drink,
But never a drop of the poison cup
Of drinking she did think.
Harry took the cup of tea
And put it to his mouth,
He opened his bright red lips
And the poison went quickly down.
His wife sat at Nicut Hill,
Waiting for Harry to come;
She called to her own sister dear,
"Has my husband now come home?"
She went up to her room
And put on a riding-skirt,
She went out to the stable old
And saddled her roan steed.
But when she came to Harry's home,
The guests were in the hall.
The hearse was standing by the yard,
And the friends were mourning all.
"I've come for none of his gold," she said,
"Nor none of his lands so wide;
But his watch and chain, they ought to go,
To his own sweet bride."
And then she kissed his cold white cheeks,
And then she kissed his chin,
And then she kissed his bright red lips
Where there was no breath come in.
And then she fell upon the floor,
Her head beside the bier,
Her heart did break, it was so sore,
But she shed not any tear.
__________________________________
HARRY SAUNDERS- Sung by Mrs. Nan Wilson, Nicholas County. In Patrick W Gainer, Folk Songs from the West Virginia Hills, pp. 61-62.
It's forty miles to Nicut Town,
The nearest way you go,
But Harry Saunders has taken a wife
That he dares not to bring home.
His mother called her hired girl
"Sally, draw me a cup of tea,
For I see my son Harry's coming
To eat a meal with me."
His mother lifted the cup of tea,
And touched her lips to the drink,
But never a drop of the poison cup
Of drinking she did take.
Harry took the cup of tea
And put it to his mouth,
And he opened his bright red lips
And the poison went quickly down.
His wife sat at Nicut Hill,
Waiting for Harry to come;
She called to her own sister dear,
"Has my husband now come home?"
She went up to her room
And put on a riding skirt,
She went out to the stable old
And saddled her roan steed.
But when she came to Harry's home,
The guests well all in the hall.
The hearse was standing by the yard,
And the friends were mourning all.
"I've come for none of his gold," she said,
"Nor none of his lands so wide."
"The watch and chain I've thrown in the well,
From his own sweet bride to hide."
And then she kissed his cold white cheeks,
And then she kissed his chin,
And then she kissed his bright red lips
Where there was no breath come in.
And then she fell upon the floor,
Her head against the bier,
Her heart did break, it was so sore,
But she shed not any tear.