It Rained, It Mist- Withers (WV) 1916 Cox B
[From: Folk-Songs of the South by John Harrington Cox- 1925; his notes follow.
R. Matteson 2013, 2015]
19. SIR HUGH, OR, THE JEW'S DAUGHTER (Child, No. 155)
Fourteen variants have been found in West Virginia, under various titles (cf. Cox, xlv, 160). They all tell the same brief story and differ in trifling details only. The version agrees closely with Child G and H. Child K of the English versions is very similar. Stanza A 6 and the corresponding stanzas in other variants are most like Child F 4 and N 6.
For American texts see Child, 111, 248, 249 (Philadelphia and Baltimore); Newell, Games and Songs of American Children, p. 75 (New York; reprinted by Child, in, 251); Krehbiel, New York Tribune, August 17, 1902 (see Journal, xv, 195); Belden, Journal, xrx, 293 (Missouri; Kentucky); Tolman, Journal, xxrx, 164 (Indiana; reprinted by Pound, No. 5 A); Kittredge, Journal, xxix, 166 (probably from Connecticut); Tolman and Eddy, Journal, xxxv, 344 (Ohio); Focus, in, 396, 399 (Virginia); Steger and Morrow, The University of Virginia Magazine, December, 191 2, p. 115 (Alabama; the same in Smith, p. 16, and Pound, No. 5B); Campbell and Sharp, No. 26 (North Carolina). For further references see Journal, xxix, 164; xxx, 322; xxxv, 344. Add Bulletin, No. 7, p. 6; No. 9, p. 7; No. 11, p. 5.
B. "It Rained, It Mist." Communicated by Professor Walter Barnes, Fairmont, Marion County, May 19, 1916; obtained from Miss Lelia Withers, Grafton, Taylor County, who got it from her mother.
1 It rained, it mist, it rained, it mist,
It rained all over the town;
Until the boys of this our town,
Went out to toss a ball, a ball,
Went out to toss a ball.
2 At first they throwed it too high,
And then they throwed it too low;
And then they throwed it into the Jew's garden,
Where no one was darest to go.
3 Out came a Jew's lady,
All dressed in rich array:
" Come in, come in, my pretty little boy,
And get your ball again."
4 "I won't come in, I dares t come in,
Unless my playmates can;
For they that enter this garden here
Can never come out again."
5 At first she showed him a mellow apple,
And then a gay gold ring;
She showed him a cherry as red as blood,
To entice that little boy in.
6 She took him by the lily-white hand,
She led him down in the . . . ,
She led him down in a cellar deep,
Where no one could hear him lament.
7 She called for a knife both sharp and keen,
To pierce his little heart with;
She called for a basin both wide and deep,
To catch his heart's blood in.
8 "Go put the Bible at my head,
The hymn book at my feet;
And when my playmates call for me,
Just tell them I'm asleep.
9 "Go put the hymn book at my feet,
The Bible at my head;
And when my playmates call for me,
Just tell them I am dead."