First attested in 1657, this English ballad is a warning to wives about the perils of infidelity. According to tradition, a woman named Jane Reynolds became engaged to a sailor, but after his prolonged absence at sea and presumed death, she married a ship’s carpenter instead, with whom she had a son. Seven years later, upon the sailor’s unexpected return with a fleet of seven ships laden with treasure, Jane abandoned her family to sail away with her former lover, only to discover that he was in fact a demon, who ferried her to “the hill of Hell” as punishment for her unfaithfulness to her legitimate husband and son. This ballad acquired many variations as it spread from England to Scotland and eventually to North America, where it was especially popular in Appalachia.
“Where have you been, my long lost lover,
This seven long years and more?”
“I’ve been seeking gold for thee, my love,
And riches of great store.
Now I’m come for the vows you promised me,
You promised me long ago.”
“My former vows you must forgive,
For I’m a wedded wife.”
“I might have been married to a king’s daughter,
Far, far ayont the sea;
But I refused the crown of gold,
And it’s all for the love of thee.”
“If you might have married a king’s daughter,
Yourself you have to blame;
For I’m married to a ship’s-carpenter,
And to him I have a son.
Have you any place to put me in,
If I with you should gang?”
“I’ve seven brave ships upon the sea,
All laden to the brim.
I’ll build my love a bridge of steel,
All for to help her o’er;
Likewise webs of silk down by her side,
To keep my love from the cold.”
She took her eldest son into her arms,
And sweetly did him kiss.
“My blessing go with you, and your father too,
For little does he know of this.”
As they were walking up the street,
Most beautiful for to behold,
He cast a glamour oer her face,
And it shone like the brightest gold.
As they were walking along the sea-side,
Where his gallant ship lay in,
So ready was the chair of gold
To welcome this lady in.
They had not sailed a league, a league,
A league but scarcely three,
Till altered grew his countenance,
And raging grew the sea.
When they came to yon sea-side,
She set her down to rest;
It’s then she spied his cloven foot,
Most bitterly she wept.
“O is it for gold that you do weep?
Or is it for fear?
Or is it for the man you left behind
When that you did come here?”
“It is not for gold that I do weep,
O no, nor yet for fear;
But it is for the man I left behind
When that I did come here.
O what a bright, bright hill is yon,
That shines so clear to see?”
“O it is the hill of heaven,” he said,
“Where you shall never be.”
“O what a black, dark hill is yon,
That looks so dark to me?”
“O it is the hill of Hell,” he said,
“Where you and I shall be.
Would you wish to see the fishes swim
In the bottom of the sea,
Or wish to see the leaves grow green
On the banks of Italy?”
“I hope I’ll never see the fishes swim
On the bottom of the sea,
But I hope to see the leaves grow green
On the banks of Italy.”
He took her up to the topmast high,
To see what she could see;
He sunk the ship in a flash of fire,
To the bottom of the sea.