NELL FLAHERTY'S DRAKE
(learned from Allen Kaplan of UC Hiking Club in 1958)
Oh, me name it is Nell and the truth for to tell
His neck it was green, almost fit to be seen,
May his pig never grunt, may his cats never hunt,
May his spade never dig, may his sow never pig,
Now the only good news that I have to infuse
(from miriam berg's folksong collection)
I come from Goat Hill which I'll never deny,
I had a fine drake and I'd die for his sake,
Which me gran'mither gav' me and she's gone to die.
The dear little fellow, his legs they were yellow,
He could fly like a swallow and swim like a hake,
Till some dirty savage to grace his white cabbage
Most monstrously murdered my beautiful drake.
He was fit for a queen of the highest degree,
His body was white, and it would you delight
He was plump, fat and heavy and brisk as a bee.
He was wholesome and sound, he would weigh twenty pound,
And the universe round I would roam for his sake.
Bad luck to the robber, be he drunk or sober,
That murdered Nell Flaherty's beautiful drake.
May a ghost ever haunt him in the dead of the night,
May his hens never lay, may his horse never neigh,
May his goats fly away like an old paper kite.
May the flies and the fleas this wretch ever tease,
May the piercing March breeze make him shiver and shake,
May a lump of a stick raise the bumps fast and thick
On the monster that murdered Nell Flaherty's drake.
May each nit in his wig be as large as a snail,
May his turkeys not hatch, may his door never latch,
May his roof have no thatch, may the rats eat his meal (pronounced mail
May every old fairy from Cork to Dunlary
Dip him snug and airy in river or lake,
That the eel and the trout, they may dine on the snout
Of the monster that murdered Nell Flaherty's drake.
Is that old Paddy Hughes and young Anthony Blake,
Also Johnny Dwyer and Carny Maguire,
They each have grandson of my darlin' drake.
My bird, he had dozens of nephews and cousins,
And one I must get or my heart it will break,
For to set my mind aisy or else I'll run crazy,
Thus ends the whole song of Nell Flaherty's drake.