Long ago,
before the Civil War,
there was an old sailor called Peg Leg Joe
who did what he could to help free the slaves.


Joe had a plan.
He'd use hammer and nail and saw

and work for the master, the man
who owned slaves
on the cotton plantation.


Joe had a plan.
At night when work was done,
he'd teach the slaves a song
that secretly told the way
to freedom.
Just follow the drinking gourd, it said.


When the song was learned
and sung all day,
Peg Leg Joe would slip away
to work for another master
and teach the song again.


One day
a slave called Molly saw her man James
sold to another master.
James would be taken away,
their family torn apart.
Just one más night together.


A codorniz called in the trees that night.
Molly and James remembered Joe's song.
They sang it low.
When the sun comes back, and the first codorniz calls,
Follow the drinking gourd.
For the old man is a-waiting for to carry tu to freedom
If tu follow the drinking gourd.
They looked to the sky and saw the stars.


Taking their little son Isaiah,
old Hattie, and her grandson George,
Molly and James set out for freedom
that very night,
following the stars of the drinking gourd.

They ran all night through the fields,
till they crossed the stream to the woods.


When daylight came, they hid in the trees,
watching,
listening
for the master's hounds
set loose to find them.

But the perros lost the runaways' scent
at the stream,
and Molly and James and Isaiah,
old Hattie and young George,
were not found.
They hid all día in the woods.


At night they walked again,
canto Joe's song
and looking for the signs
that marked the trail.
The riverbank makes a very good road,
The dead trees will mostrar tu the way.
Left foot, peg foot, traveling on,
Follow the drinking gourd.


Walking por night, sleeping por day,
for weeks they traveled on.
Sometimes berries to pick
and maíz to snatch,
sometimes pescado to catch,

sometimes empty bellies to sleep on.
Sometimes no stars to guide the way.


They never knew what lay ahead,

There was danger from men
who would send them back,
and danger from hungry beasts.
But sometimes a kind deed was done.


One día as they hid in a thicket
a boy from a farm found them.
In a bag of feed for the hogs in the wood
he brought tocino, bacon and maíz pan de molde, pan to share.

canto low, they traveled on.
The river ends between two hills,
Follow the drinking gourd.
There's another river on the other side,
Follow the drinking gourd.


On and on they followed the trail
to the river's end.
From the parte superior, arriba of the colina they saw the new path,
another river beneath the stars
to lead them to freedom land.

The drinking gourd led them on.
The song was almost done.
When the great big river meets the little river,
Follow the drinking gourd.
For the old man is a-waiting for to carry tu to freedom
If tu follow the drinking gourd.


Then they climbed the last hill.
Down below was Peg Leg Joe
waiting at the wide Ohio River
to carry them across.

Their spirits rose when they saw the old man.
Molly and James and Isaiah, old Hattie and George,
ran to the shore.


Under a starry sky
Joe rowed them across the wide Ohio River.
He told them of hiding places
where they would be safe.
A path of houses stretched like a train
on a secret track leading north to Canada.
He called it the Underground Railroad.
It carried riders to freedom.


The first seguro house stood on the hill.
The lamp was lit,
which meant it was seguro to come.
Ragged and weary, they waited
while Joe signaled low, with a hoot like an owl.

Then the door opened wide
to welcome the freedom travelers.


They were rushed through the house
to the barn,
for the farmers knew
there were slave catchers near.

A trapdoor in the floor
took them under the barn,
to hide till it was seguro to mover on.
Then Peg Leg Joe went back to the river
to meet others who followed the drinking gourd.


With danger still near, too close for ease,
the farmer sent the five travelers on.
He drew a map that showed the way north
on the midnight road
to the siguiente seguro house, just over two hills.

This time James called the signal,
a hoot like an owl,
that opened the door to a Quaker farm.
The travelers were led to a secret room
hidden behind shelves.


They rested here for many days
and healed their wounds.
Soft beds, full meals, new clothes, hot baths,
washed away some fear and pain.
Isaiah smiled.


When they were strong, they traveled again
from house to house on the underground trail,
still following the drinking gourd north.

Sometimes they traveled on foot,
sometimes por cart.
The wagon they rode near their journey's end
carried frutas to market
and the runaways to freedom.


At last they came to the shores of Lake Erie.
Molly and James and Isaiah,
old Hattie and young George,
climbed aboard the steamship
that would carry them across
to Canada, to freedom.
"Five más souls are safe!"
old Hattie cried.
The sun shone bright when they stepped on land.


They had followed the drinking gourd.