It Rained a Mist- Burgess (VA) 1915 Davis F
[From Traditional Ballads of Virginia, Davis- 1929. Notes by Davis follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
TRADITIONAL BALLADS OF VIRGINIA NOTES
SIR HUGH, or, THE JEW'S DAUGHTER
(Child, No. 155)
This familiar old ballad is founded upon what passed for an actual occurrence in England in the year 1255. Child summarizes the story told by a contemporary writer in the Annals of Waverley, in these words: "A boy in Lincoln, named Hugh, was crucified by the Jews in contempt of Christ, with various preliminary tortures. To conceal the act from Christians, the body, when taken from the cross, was thrown into a running stream, but the water would not endure the wrong done its maker, and immediately ejected it upon dry land. The body was then buried in the earth, but was found above ground the next day; The guilty parties were now very much frightened and quite at their wit's end; as a last resort they threw the corpse into a drinking-well. Thereupon the whole place was filled with so brilliant a light and so sweet an odor that it was clear to everybody that there must be something holy and prodigious in the well. The body was seen floating on the water, and, upon, its being drawn up, the hands and feet were found to be pierced, the head had, as it were, a crown of bloody points, and there were various other wounds, from all which it was. plain that this was the work of the abominable Jews. A blind woman, touching the bier on which the blessed martyr's corpse was carrying to the church, received her sight, and many other miracles followed. Eighteen Jews, convicted of the crime, and confessing it with their own mouth, were hanged." Additional circumstances are supplied by other contemporary or near--contemporary writers, and many other instances of child murder, or pretended child-murder by the Jews, with horrible Christian reprisals, are cited by Child, who concludes that they are "only a part of a persecution which, with all moderation, may be rubricated as the most disgrace chapter in the history of the human race."
The English ballads founded upon the Hugh of Lincoln incident of course depart a good deal from the original occurrence, and doubtless, in the course of long tradition, from their original form. The story told by most of the Virginia texts is this: some little boys are playing ball, and one tosses the ball into the Jew's garden, where no one dares to go'. The Jew's daughter invites the boy in, but he refuses because he fears he may not come out again. She entices him in with- a red apple or other attraction, leads him to a remote part of the house where none may hear him call, and there sticks him with a pin and stabs him with a carving-knife, after providing a basin in which to catch his heart's blood. (In D and F, the boy finds his own nurse within, picking a chicken; but she is deaf to his entreaties. Compare Child H and K. The boy asks that a Bible be put at his head, a prayer book at his feet, that his mother be told that he is asleep, his playmates that he is dead. In D and E, I and J, he is carried away and thrown into a deep well.
The sixteen Virginia texts, which clearly represent more than one version, show their closest relationship to the Child series G, H, I, J, K, but the likeness is by no means exact in any case. Stanza A 6 and the corresponding stanza in other Virginia texts are most.like child F4 and N6. In Virginia text is the boy named (except in the title, which may be the work of the collector). The subsequent action of Child A-F, in which the mother sets out to seek her son, converses with him miraculously in the well, and finally has his body returned to her, with attendant miracles, is entirely lacking in the Virginia texts.
"The Jew's Daughter" is the most usual Virginia title, but "It Rained a Mist," "The Little School Boy," and "A Little Boy Threw His Ball So High" are also known. "Sir Hugh" and "Little Harry Hughes" are doubtless borrowed. Seven melodies are given, some related, some quite distinct.
For American texts see Belden, No, 8 (fragment); Bulletin, Nos. 2-5, 7, 9, 11; Campbell and Sharp, No. 26 (North Carolina, Child, III, 248 (Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York from Newell's Games and Sings of American Children); Cox, No. 9; Hudson, No. 17 (and, Journal, XXXIX 108 Mississippi) Jones, p. 301; Journal, xv, 195 (reprinted from the New York Tribune August 17, 1902, H. E. Krehbiel) ; xix, 293 (Belden, Missouri, Kentucky) XXIX, 164 (Tolman, Indiana, Connecticut); xxxv, 344 Tolman and Eddy, Iads, text and melody); xxxix, 212 (Rinker, Pennsylvania); Pound, Ballads No. 5; Scarborough, p. 53 Virginia, text and melody, Alabama from The University of Virginia Magazine, December, 1912); Shearin, p. 4, Shearin and Combs, p. 8; C. A. Smith, p. 15 (New York from Newell Games and Songs of American Children, Virginia, three melodies only, Alabama, text and melody); Reed Smith, Ballad No. 11. For additional references, see Cox, p. 120: Journal, xxix, 164; xxx, 322; xxxv, 344.
F. "It Rained a Mist." Collected by Miss Juliet Fauntleroy. Sung by Mr. Jesse Burgess, of Altavista. Va. Campbell county. April 30, 1915, with music. "This ballad," writes Miss Fauntleroy was sung to me by one of my pupils, Jesse Burgess, who had heard it sung by a boy in, Greensboro, North Carolina. Jesse Burgess is a boy of fourteen, but only in the first grade."
Miss Fauntleroy adds: "This same ballad was also sung to me by Mrs. Sinai Thomas (nee Sales); from Wilkes County. North Carolina. But instead of 'union yard' he sang it 'new made yard; instead of a charming gold ring, she said 'diamond ring'; instead of 'little white hand,' 'lily white hand,' instead of if I ever come to a joyous man,' she sang it, 'innocent man.' She sang the sixth stanza thus:
She pinned a napkin round his head
She pinned it with a pin;
And with a knife she had in her hand,
She pierced his little heart in, etc.
Edgar Thomas, a pupil of mine, a son or Mrs. Sinai Thomas, said he had heard also the following lines:
She set him in a little arm chair,
She stuck him with a knife
She called her servants to her side,
To tell them what to do, to do,
To tell them what to do.
She laid him on a cooling board. . .
"This ballad was also sung for me by another pupil of mine, Lee Callaway, a little girl, who had learned it from her mother. She sang it pretty much as Jesse Burgess did."
1 It rained a mist, it rained a mist,
It rained all over the town,
When two little boys went out to play,
To toss their ball around, around,
To toss their ball around.
2 Then first they tossed the ball too high,
And then they tossed it too low,
They tossed it into the Union yard
Where no one was 'lowed to go, to go,
Where no one was 'lowed to go.
3 Here came young Miss, all dressed in silk,
All dressed in silk so fine;
"Come in, come in, my pretty little boys,
You shall have your ball again, again,
You shall have your ball again."
4 Then first she showed him a red rosy apple,
And then she showed him a peach,
And then she showed him a charming gold ring
Which charmed the little one in, one in,
Which charmed the little one in.
5 She took him by his little white hand,
She led him across the hall;
She took him into the dining room
Where none could hear him call, him call,
Where none could hear him call.
6 She pinned a napkin over his face,
She pinned it with a pin;
Then she took up a carving knife
And cut his little heart in, heart in,
And cut his little heart in.
7 "O spare my life, O spare my life,"
The little one he cried;
"If ever I come to a joyous man,
My joys will all be there, be there,
My joys will all be there."
8 "O place a prayer-book at my feet,
A Bible at my head,
And when my playmates call for me,
Pray tell them I am dead, am dead,
Pray tell them I am dead."
9 She placed the Bible at his head,
The prayer-book at his feet.
And when his playmates called for him,
She told them he was asleep, asleep,
She told them he was asleep.