Free Gardener, The

DESCRIPTION: "Old Adam was the gardener ... A fig-leaved apron he sewed and put on ... who would na wish a free gardener to be?" Eve asked to be a gardener. He said "no woman on earth my secrets should gain." "She made him leave the garden a ploughboy to be"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (Greig/Duncan3)
KEYWORDS: Bible wordplay worker
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Greig/Duncan3 473, "The Free Gardener" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #5972
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Old Adam Was a Gairner
NOTES [94 words]: If it's not clear from my description, Adam's secrets ("I early obtained them by Heaven's decree"), those of the free "gardener" are really those of the Free Mason: "We're noble fellows and our aprons are blue, We toil in our garden, we plant and we sow, Kings are our companions, how noble are we! Then who would na wish a free gardener to be?" Women cannot know those secrets. After all, Eve "made him eat the apple, She made him go bound when he might have gone free...."
Greig/Duncan3: "'From her [Mrs Beaton] early note-book, this being dated April, 1867.'" - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Gr3473

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography