Chasing the Reynard- Fora Lassiter c. 1890s
[This is an old English Hunting song dating back to the 1700s (broadside- Three Jovial Welshmen), known by a variety of titles, some a miss-hearing of "reynard" or "bold reynard" (reindeer, Ranger; see Cox, Balringer, Bull Raiser, etc.). Barry printed a version in the 1914 JAFL titled "Come all Ye Merry Hunters."
R. Matteson 2014]
CHASING THE REYNARD
Come , all ye merry sportsman that love to chase the fox,
And we will chase the reynard o'er the hills and rocks;
Cone hobby, hobby, hobby a-long the narrow way,
With a rit-tit-tee and a rat-tat-tay,
And the bugle horn goes "ye-de-yea and a yea-de-yea,"
Over the hills we run them boys, o'er the hills we run them.
[or --Through the woods we run them, etc. )
2. The first we saw an old man a-plowing up the ground
He said he saw the reynard go running 'round and 'round.
Come hobby, hobby, hobby etc .
3. The next we saw a woman as blind as she could be
She said she saw the reynard go running up a tree.
Come hobby hobby , hobby etc.
4. The next, we saw a young girl a-combing out her locks,
She said she saw the reynard go o'er the hills and rocks.
Come hobby, hobby, hobby etc .
The above verses and the melody are remembered by Mrs. McDowell. She can not, remember when she heard them nor who sang them, but, knows they were sung to her in her childhood.
The following verses were written by Mr. Reece E. Underwood in 1930. He says he learned them many years ago from a widow lady who lived near Rock House in the hills of Cannon County, Tennessee.
1. I went and told the farmer, a-minding of his sheep,
He said he saucely run ore go over the fence in a leap.
And a hop, hop, hop and a holly long with a royal man all dag' .
through the woods we run wlth a ugle, ugle, ugle,
And lt, I e all in a trerry vein.
Twang, twang, tippy, tippy, twang,
And sound the bugle horn.
I went, and told the milker, a-milking of his cow
He said he saucely run o'er run of with an old white sow.
And a hop, hop, hop etc.
3. I went and told the teacher, a-teaching of his school;
He said he saucely run ore run over the old black mule.
And a hop, hop, hop etc .
"Saucely run o'er" is doubtless a corruption of "saw sly Reynard," or "saw Sir Reynard," or some such phrase. Mrs. McDowell learned it as "reindeer," instead of reynard. These corruptions seem to have been closely correlated with the fact that the word "Reynard," was lost from the vocabulary of the folk in the Tennessee hills.