THE OLD MILLER
Sung by: W.P. Detherow
Recorded in Batesville, AR 8/27/59

 Click here to listen to the original recording
(Mr. Detherow: "This is a song that's called "The Old Miller." Years ago they used to have grist mills all over the country, and people would take their corn and wheat in sacks, throw them across their horse, and go to mill, and the miller always took out a certain amount of toll. It seems like in this song, that this old man was going to make his will, he wasn't satisfied with that, so this is the way this song goes.")

There was an old miller,
And he lived very old.
He had three sons,
That was quite men grown.
When he came to die and make his will,
All he had was an old grist mill.

He called up his youngest son.
"Son--oh, son--my life is done,
And if to you my will I make,
Tell me the toll you mean for to take."

"Oh, father, you know, my name is Dick,
And out of a bushel, I'll take a peck,
And if by that my fortune make,
That's the toll I mean for to take."

"Fool, oh, fool," the old man said.
"You have not learnt your father's ways,
And unto you the mill I won't give,
For off such toll you cannot live."

He called up his next oldest son.
"Son--oh, son--my life is done,
And if to you my will I make,
Tell me the tolls you mean for to take."

"Father, you know, my name is Taft,
And out of a bushel, I'll take half,
And if by that my fortune I make,
That's the toll I mean for to take."

"Fool, oh, fool," the old man said.
"You have not learnt your father's ways,
And to you my mill I won't give,
For off such toll you cannot live."

He called up his oldest son.
"Son--oh, son--my life is done,
And if to you my will I make,
Tell me the toll you mean for to take."

"Father, you know, my name is Saul,
And out of a bushel, I'll take all,
And if by that my fortune I lack,
I run a man home and swear to the sack."

"Wise, oh wise," the old man said.
"You have learnt your father's ways,
And to you my mill I'll give,
For off this toll you can surely live."

The old woman wrung her hands and cried,
The old man stuck out his heels and died.
He died before he made his will,
And dog if the old woman didn't get the mill.

Now the old man, he's dead and gone.
He left the people to wonder on,
But where he's gone we cannot tell,
But some say, boys, he's gone over the river to Big Cotton.

Also found in Randolph, Vol. I, #91, "There Was an Old Miller"; Brown, Vol. II, #177, "The Miller and His Three Sons"; Belden, p. 244, "The Miller and His Three Sons."

All Songs Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr., unless otherwise noted

The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection
Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas
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