‘You might have married her,’ cried she,
‘For I am married to a house-carpenter,
And a fine young man is he.’
‘Oh dry up your tears, my own true love,
And cease your weeping,’ cried he,
‘For soon you’ll see your own happy home,
On the banks of old Tennessee.’
B-H have for their basis the broadside A; the substance of the story is repeated, with traditional modifications. Two or three stanzas of A are of the popular description, but it does not seem necessary to posit a tradition behind A. The correspondences of the several versions are as follows:
- A 181,2, C 2.
- A 183,4, 19, B 1, D 1, E 1, 21,2, F 1.
- A 20, C 3, D 2, E 23,4, F 2.
- A 21, B 41,2, 33,4, C 61, 123,4, D 3.
- A 22, B 2, C 43,4, 51,2, E 3, F 4.
- A 23, C 7.
- A 24, B 5, C 8, E 51,2, F 6.
- A 25, B 6, C 9, F 7, G 1.
- A 26, B 8, C 10, F 93,4.
- A 28, B 11.
- A 30, B 12.
- B 31,2, E 41,2, F 51,2.
- B 7, C 13, E 64, G 2, H 1.
- B 9,10, C 14,17, D 5, E 12, 13, G 5.
- B 12, C 23.
- B 13, C 24.
- C 3, D 2, E 2, F 2.
- C 11, E 7, F 8, H 2.
- C 16, D 6, E 16, F 12, G 6.
- C 21, D 8.
- D 1, E 1, F 1.
- D 7, E 10, F 10, G 8.
- E 11, F 11, G 7.
- E 14, F 13.
- E 15, F 14.
- E 18, F 15.
- F 92, G 43,4.
It will be observed that each of the versions B-F adds something which is taken up by a successor or successors. The arrangement of E and F, of E especially, is objectionable.