Tammy and the Bachelor1957

Tambey 'Tammy' Tyree:
[continues the recitation] Well, there was a robber in that country went by musical name / Played the harp like an angel / And they called him Little Harp. / Now he noted the birds was all a-leavin' him / The mockin' bird, the jade, the little brown thrush, and the sparrow. / So 'bout the only thing left was the buzzards. / When they lead out, he followed through the swamp till he came to the edge of the trace / and there was all the birds a-roostin' whilst we was a-sleepin'. / It were in the middle of the night by then / and the campfire burnin' low. / We lay on a blanket sleepin' / Mammy an' Pappy an' me, an' one crawlin' baby that had to be toted / An' some odd-size sisters, two or three. / Now, pappy used to hide his bag of gold in the same leather bag he would use for totin' his fiddle. / Little Harp sneaked in whilst we slept an' stole the leather bag. / That's how Little Harp not only burgled pappy's horse hair fiddle but stole our treasure and left us all a-weepin' with nothin' expectin' this family gown my mammy fashioned for me. / / I reckon' that's all the tellin' of it.

Peter Brent:
Now you haven't told how you came to live in this house.

Tambey 'Tammy' Tyree:
That part was nigh onto a miracle, for sure. We were pennyless. We made out by nippin' and tuckin' and sellin' fressh eggs. An' one day I come up the driveway yonder wearin' this very gown for I owned no other. I was totin' fresh eggs in my bonnet. I come up the driveway singin'. An' the young man of the house he come out, An' he took me by the hand, An' he said: / "I take the eggs, I take the bonnet / I take the gown, and what's in it." / An' he kissed me then and there. And he made me into a fine lady. And he carved this comb for my hair. That's how I come to this great house, and how I lived here, happily ever after.