Butcher's Boy

In yonder city, there did dwell
A butcher's boy, I loved him well
He courted me my life away
And then with me would no more stay.

She went upstairs to make her bed
And not one word to her mother said
Her mother she went upstairs too
Saying, "Daughter, oh daughter, what troubles you?"

"Oh mother, oh mother, I cannot tell
That butcher's boy I love so well
He courted me my life away
And now at home he will not stay"

"There is a place in London town
Where that butcher's boy goes and sits down
He takes that strange girl on his knee
And tells to her what he won't tell me"

Her father he came up from work
Saying, "Where is my daughter, she seems so hurt"
He went upstairs to give her hope
And found her hanging from a rope

He took his knife and cut her down
And in her bosom these words were found
"Go dig my grave both wide and deep
Place a marble slab at my head and feet
And over my coffin, place a snow white dove
To warn the world that I died of love

DT #320
Laws P24
from Peggy Seeger
Recorded on Folkways Anthology
SOF