GRAY AND BLACK HORSES

I went to down to the woods an' I couldn' go 'cross
So I paid five follars fer an ole gray hoss.
De horse wouldn' pull, so I sol' im fer a bull.
De bull wouldn' holler, so I sol' im fer a dollar.
De dollar wouldn' pass, so I throwed it in de grass.
Den de grass wouldn' grow. Heigho! Heigho!

Through dat huckleberry woods I couldn' git far,
So I paid a good dollar fre an old black mar.'
W'en I got down dar, de trees wouldn' bar;
So I had to gallop back on dat ole black mar'.
"Bookitie-bar'! Dat ole black mar'; "Bookitie-bar!' Dat ole black mar'.
Yes she trabble so hard dar she kolt off my h'ar.

from Thomas W. Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes-Wise And Otherwise {Port Wshington, N.Y, Kennikat Press Edition, 1968; 45; originally published in 1922}

-snip-

The beginning two lines are a floating verse that's usually given as "I went to the river and I couldn't get across/so I paid five dollars for an old gray horse."