Once There was an Old Woman- Atkeson (WV) 1915 Cox E
[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.
E. No local title. Communicated by Miss Mary M. Atkeson, Morgantown, Monongalia County, December 20, 191 5; obtained from Mr. Joseph H. Spicer, Spring Gap, Hampshire County; learned from his mother, who learned it from her grandmother, who came from Ireland. Printed by Cox, xliv, 388.
1 Once there was an old woman,
And very wealthy was she;
She had three great big boys,
And she sent them over the sea.
2 They had only been gone a week from her,
A week, not more than three,
When word came to that old woman,
That her sons she 'd never see.