HARRY SAUNDERS

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.

Sung by Mrs. Nan Wilson, Nicholas County
In Patrick W Gainer, Folk Songs from the West Virginia Hills, pp. 61-62

Child #87
filename[ PRINROB2
CB
Feb07
mudcat.org

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