Hi,

This is the longest Carpenter Collection variant (22 stanzas) of "Sing Ivy" or "My father left me an acre of land" (Roud 21093). From James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/3/J, pp. 06907-06908, the last stanzas are confused.

A Bunch of Green Holly and Ivy- sung by Daniel Fisher of Weston Newbury, Berkshire, about 1880 when he was a little lad.

My father he died and left me some land,
Sing ivy, sing ivy,
My father he died and left me some land
With a bunch of holly and ivy.

I ploughed it up with three buck horns

I sewed it up with three peppercorns,

I harrowed it with a bramble bush,

I rolled it down with me rollin' pin,

My carn came up and it did look well

I rolled it down with me rollin' pin,

I reaped it down wi' me little pen knife

I shocked it up in nine little shocks,

I builded me a rick in a mouse's hole,

I drawed it to a rick with an old blind rat,

I thrashed it out with three bean stalks

I winnowed it out with the tyale[1] o' me shirt.

I measured it in an old quart cup,

I sacked it up in three mice skins,

I sent it to market with a team o' rats,

The team of rats came rattling back

The whip did crack on the old rat's back

The money came back in the corner of the sack,

The miller came back with a broken back

The team of rats came rattling back
Sing ivy, sing ivy,
The whip did crack on the old rat's back,
With a bunch of holly and ivy.

The team of rats came rattling back
Sing ivy, sing ivy,
The bells did ring and the carter did sing,
With a bunch of holly and ivy.

1. Original spelling for "tail"

* * * *

Richie