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It's of a farmer's daughter, so beautiful I'm told;
Her parents died and leaved her a large sum of gold.
She lived with her rich uncle, was the cause of all her woe,
And soon you'll hear this maiden fair that proved his overthrow.
Her uncle had a ploughboy who Mary loved quite well,
Down in her uncle's garden fond tales of love did tell;
There dwelled a wealthy squire who Mary came to see,
But still she loved her ploughboy on the banks of sweet Dundee.
Her uncle and the squire rode out on one fine day:
'Young Willie he's in favour,' her uncle he did say,
'And this is my intention, to tie him to a tree
And then to bribe a press-gang on the banks of sweet Dundee.
Her uncle rose one morning, straightway to her he came
And knocking on her bedroom door, those words to her did say:
'Arise, arise my fair pretty maid, for a lady you will be;
The squire is now a-waiting for you on the banks of sweet Dundee.'
'I care not for your lords or squires, your dukes nor earls likewise —
My Willie's eyes appears to me like diamonds in the skies.'
'Be gone undaunted fair maid, unhappy you will be,
For I will banish Willie from the banks of sweet Dundee.'
The press-gang came to Willie when he was all alone,
He boldly fought for liberty, but there was six to one;
The blood did flow in torrents: 'Pray kill me now,' said he,
'For I will die for Mary on the banks of sweet Dundee.'
As Mary was a-walking, lamenting for her love
She meet the wealthy squire down in her uncle's grove.
'Stand off! Stand off!' cried Mary, 'Undaunted will I be,
'Twas you that drove the lad I love from the banks of sweet Dundee.'
He throwed his arms around her and he tried to throw her down —
Two pistols and a sword she saw beneath his morning gown;
She took the weapons from him, and the sword he used so free,
She fired and shot the squire on the banks of sweet Dundee.
Her uncle overheard the noise and hastened to the sound,
Saying: 'Since you shot the squire, I'll give you your death wound';
'Stand off! Stand off!' cried Mary, 'Undaunted will I be.'
The trigger drew, her uncle slew on the banks of sweet Dundee.
The doctor he was sent for and a man of perfect skill,
And likewise a lawyer for him to sign his will —
His gold he willed to Mary, who fought so manfully
And he closed his eyes, no more to rise on the banks of sweet Dundee.
This variant was collected in 1976 from Moses (Uncle Mose) Harris of Lethbridge, NL, by Genevieve Lehr and Anita Best and published as #6 in Come And I Will Sing You: A Newfoundland Songbook, pp.12-13, edited by Genevieve Lehr (University of Toronto Press © 1985/2003).
A ballad which apparently continues this story of Willie and Mary was collected from Alphonse O'Driscoll (b.1901) of Tors Cove, NL, and published as Banks Of Sweet Trawlee in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
