It Rained- Rabb (IN) 1936 Brewster A
[From: Ballads and Songs of Indiana by Brewster, 1940. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2013, 2015]
SIR HUGH (Child, No. 155)
Three texts have been recovered in this state. All of them tell the same story, differing only in unimportant details, and agree most closely with versions G and H of Child. The ballad is more commonly known in Indiana as "The Jew's Daughter" or "The Jew's Garden."
For American texts, see Belden, No. 8; Campbell and Sharp, No. 26; Child, III, 248; Cox, No. 9; Davis, p. 400; Hudson, No. 17; Hudson, Folksongs, p. 116; Jones, p. 301; Journal, XV, 195; XIX, 293; XXIX, 164 (contains an Indiana variant); XXX, 322; XXXV, 344; XXXIX, 212; XLIV, 64, 296; XLVII, 358; Newell, Games and Songs of American Children, p. 75; Pound, Ballads, No. 5; Scarborough, p. 53; Scarborough, Song Catcher, p. 172; Shearin, p. 4; Shearin and Combs, p. 8; C. A. Smith, p. 15; Smith, Ballads, No. 11; Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands, p. 102; BFSSNE, V, 7 (Vermont); Creighton, Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia, p. 16.
British texts: JFSS, I, 264; V, 253.
A. [It Rained] No title given. Contributed by the late Mrs. Kate Milner Rabb, special writer for the Indianapolis Star. Secured by her from Mrs. Frances Schmidlap Wands, nee Taylor. "She told me of this old ballad which was sung in the Taylor family for generations as a 'sleepy song/ the air to which it was sung really being the sort that lulls to sleep" (Mrs. Rabb). Marion County. February 26, 1936.
1. It rained, it rained in our town;
It rained both great and small;
The little boys in our town
Were playing with a ball.
2. They tossed the ball so high, so high,
And then again so low;
At last it fell in the duke's garden
Where none of them dared to go.
3. The duke's daughter came walking out
And she was dressed in green:
"Come in, come in, my little boy,
And get your ball again."
4. "I won't come in, I can't come in
Without my playmates all.
I won't come in, I can't come in;
'T would cause my blood to fall."
5. She pulled him off a green apple
And offered it to him;
She pulled him off a blood-red cherry,
And that enticed him in.
6. She took him by her[1] lily-white hand
And led him to the kitchen,
And there he saw his mother's maid
A-cleaning of a chicken.
7. "O save me now, O save me now;
O save me now or never;
And if I live to be a man,
I'll pay you altogether!"
8. She took him to her own chamber,
Most beauteous to behold;
She set him in her own armchair,
And that was striped with gold.
9. She wrapped him in her apron
And pinned it with a pin;
She put him on her own bedside
And stuck him like a pig.
10. "O lay my Bible at my head,
My prayer book at my feet;
And if my playmates ask for me,
Tell them I've gone to sleep.
11. "O lay my Bible at my head,
My prayer book on my breast;
And if my playmates ask for me,
Tell them I've gone to rest."
Footnote:
1. Probably for the.