Little Mohea, Lyric Variant 02

This item is part of the I. G. Greer Folksong Collection which consists of more than 300 individual song titles and their variants as collected by Isaac Garfield Greer (1881-1967) from informants, primarily in Ashe, Wilkes and Watauga counties. The collection includes manuscripts, typescript transcriptions produced by Dr. Greer’s clerical staff, and handwritten musical notations. Songs range from traditional Child Ballads, traditional English and Scottish ballads as well as their American variants, to 19th century popular music to musical compositions of local origin.

Ballads

Love--Songs and music

Betrayal--Songs and music

Acculturation--Songs and music

The Little Mohee, The Pretty Mohee, Pretty Maumee, The Little Maumee, The Lassie Mohee, The Lass of Mohay, One Morning in May, Indian Mohee, The Pretty Mohea, The Little Mawhee, Island Mohee

AC.113 Isaac Garfield (I.G.) Greer Papers and Recordings

W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University

Greer, I. G. (Isaac Garfield), 1881-1967

PDF

English

Text

My Pretty Mohea.

As I went out walking for pleasure one day,
In sweet recreation to while the time away,
While I was amusing myself on the grass,
Oh, who should I spy but a fair Indian lass.

She sat down beside me and, taking my hand,
Said: You are a stranger and in a strange land
But if you will follow, you’re welcome to come
And dwell in the cottage that I call my home.

The sun was fast setting ,far o’er the soft sea,
When I wandered alone with my pretty Mohea.
Together we wandered, together did rove
Till we came to the hut in the cocoa-nut grove.

Then this kind expression she made unto me,
If you will consent , Sir, to stay here with me,
And go no more roving upon the salt sea,
I’ll teach you the language of the lass of Mohea.

Oh,no,my dear maiden, that never could be,
For I have a true love in my own country.
And I’ll not forsake her , for I know she loves me,
And her heart is as true as the pretty Mohea.

‘Twas early one morning in May, one morning in May,
That to this fair maiden these words I did say:
I’m going to leave you, so farewell, my dear,
My ship’s sails are spreading and home I must steer.

The last time I saw her she stood on the sand,
And as my boat passed her, she waved me her hand,
Saying: When you have landed with the girl that you love,
Think of little Mohea in the cocoa-nut grove.

And then when I landed on my own native shore,
With friends and relations around me once more,
I gazed all about me, - not one could I see
That I could compare with the pretty Mohea.

And the girl that I trusted proved untrue to me,
So I’ll turn my course backward far o’er the deep sea,
I’ll turn my course backward, from this land I’ll flee,
I’ll go spend my days with my pretty Mohea.

Brown, Older Ballads - Mostly British - 110 Randolph, 63 Cox, 116 Combs, 80 Laws, H 8

113_LittleMohea_Lyric_02_ocr