Lady Gay- Adkins (WV) 1916 Cox C
[From Folk-Songs of the South- John Harrington Cox, 1925. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
14. THE WIFE OF USHER'S WELL (Child, No. 79)
Seven variants have been recovered in West Virginia, under the titles: "A Moravian Song," "Lady Gay," "The Three Little Babes," and "A Lady Gay" (cf. Cox, XIV, 160). They all belong to the same version, and of the three versions printed by Child, they resemble most A. The best of the West Virginia copies are practically identical with the American text printed in Child V, 294. The main lines of the story are these: A lady who had three fair children sent them away to the North country to school, where, in short time, they died. She prays to the King in heaven to send them down to her, and about Christmas time they appear. She spreads a bountiful table for them, but they refuse to eat because they have food divine. She makes up a downy bed for them, with clean sheets and a golden spread, but they command her to take it off because it is vanity and sin. At the break of day they depart.
The prayer of the mother to have the children come back is not found in Child A. Cf. Child C 1. West Virginia texts A 9 and D 8 indicate the children come back to forbid obstinate grief, as the dead often do. This motive is not found in the Child versions. An ancient law compelled ghosts to return to their graves at the crowing of the cock. This law is observed in the Child versions,
but in the West Virginia variants they act in obedience to the will of their Savior. A curious combination of the two compelling forces is found in West Virginia B 8.
For references to English and American versions see Journal, xxx, 305. Add Campbell and Sharp, No. 19; Pound, No. 7; Wyman MS., No. 16 (Kentucky); Minish MS. (North Carolina); Bulletin, No. 3, p. 5; No. 9, p. 6.
C. "Lady Gay." Contributed by John B. Adkins, Branchland, Lincoln County, February 19, 19 16; learned when a child from an old aunt, who learned it from her mother.
1 There lived in London a lady gay,
And children she had three;
She sent them away to a North country,
To learn their grammar ee.
2 They had not been there very long,
Scarcely three weeks and a day,
Until sweet death came hastening along,
And stole those babes away.
3 "There is a King in heaven," she cried,
"Who once did wear a crown;
I pray send home my three little babes,
To-night or in the morning soon."
4 She fixed them a bed in the backmost room,
And on it spread a clean white sheet,
And over the top a golden spread,
So that they might sweetly sleep.
5 "Take it off, take it off," said the first oldest one,
"Take it off, take it off, if you can;
For woe unto this wicked world,
When pride it first began!"
6 She set them a table both wide and long,
And on it put bread and wine;
Says, "Come eat, come eat, my three little babes,
Come eat and drink of mine."
7 "We cannot eat your bread, mother,
Nor can we drink your wine;
For yonder stands our Saviour dear,
And to him we must resign."