Lyr. Add: GENTLE FAIR JENNY

Sweet William married him a wife,
Gentle fair Jenny, come rosemary,
To be the comfort of his life,
The dew flies over the green valley.

He married his wife and took her home,
But I think he married a little too soon.

His wife would neither card nor spin,
For fear of spoiling her delicate skin.

His wife would neither bake nor brew
For fear of spoiling her high-heeled shoe.

Sweet William come in from a-jogging the plow,
It's 'O my sweet wife, is the food ready now?

'There's cheee and johnny-cake on the shelf,
If you want any more you can get it yourself.'

Swet William has gone out to his barn,
And there he's taken his sheepskin down.

He laid the sheepskin over her back,
And with two little willows went whackety-whack.

'I'll tell my family and all my kin,
How you this quarrel did begin.'

'Go tell your family and all your kin,
That I was tanning my old sheepskin.'

Now he comes in from a-jogging the plow,
It's 'Sit you down, sir, the meal's ready now,'

Now they live free from care and strife,
And she makes William a very good wife.

In Belden, Child, Ritchie, Brown, Creighton, Sharp, etc., etc., originally British, but widespread in USA and Canada.

Lomax, Alan, Folk Songs of North America, 1960, p. 167.