THE CONSTANT FARMER'S SON (Laws M33)

There was a fair damsel in London Town did dwell.
She was proper, tall and handsome; her parents loved her well.
She was admired by lords and squires but all their hope in vain
For there was one old farmer's son who Mary's heart did gain.

A long time they courted and appointed the wedding day.
Her parents they consented but her brothers they did say,
"A wealthy lord has pledged his words and him she shall not shun
We'll first betray and then we'll slay the constant farmer's son."

There being a fair all out of town her brothers went to play.
They invited young William with them to spend the day.
When mark - returning home again - they said his race was run
And with a stake the life did take of a constant farmer's son.

As Mary on her pillow lay she dreamed a dreadful dream,
She dreamed she saw her William dear down by a flowery stream.
She then arose put on her clothes to seek her love did run,
Was dead and cold she did behold the constant farmer's son.

She gazed on his rosy cheeks all mangled in his gore.
She kissed his ruby lips and she kissed them 10 times o'er.
She pulled the green leaves from the trees to shade him from the sun
While night and day she spent her way with the constant farmer's son.

[Hunger came on this poor girl, she wept with grief and woe.
To find out his murderers, she straightway home did go.]
"Oh, parents dear you soon shall hear of a dreadful deed that's done.
In yonder vale lies cold and pale the constant farmer's son."

Her brothers they confessed their guilt and for the same they died
While Mary on her pillow lay and never ceased from crying.
"Oh, parents dear you'll soon find out the glass of life has run!"
And Mary cried and in sorrow died for the constant farmer's son.

"The Constant Farmer's Son" was among the ballads recorded by Annie Syphers of Monticello, Maine for the Flanders Ballad Collection. The version above was sung by Louis Killen on Folk-Legacy CD-132, Irish Songs from Old New England: Traditional Irish-American Songs from the Flanders Ballad Collection, and is Ms. Syphers' version in melody and, principally, in text. To clarify the story a little, the words were collated just slightly with a text in the Sam Henry collection (p. 435) and with two broadsides at the Bodleian Library (Johnson 2674 and 2675).