The Jew's Daughter- Young (WV) c.1900 [no date given] Cox D
[My date. 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.
D. "The Jew's Daughter." Communicated by Mr. George Paugh from Raywood, Pocahontas County; obtained from Mrs. Charles Young, of Davis, who learned it when a child.
1 It rained a mist,
All o'er, all o'er the town;
And all the boys and girls went out,
To toss their ball around.
2 At first they tossed it up too high,
And then again too low;
Down into the Jew's garden it went,
Where none would dare to go.
3 Out came the Jew's daughter,
All dressed in gay apparel :
"Come in, come in, my little lad,
You may have your ball again" she said.
4 "I won't come in, I shan't come in,
Unless my playmates do;
I 've heard it said that those who came in,
They never come out again."
5 First she showed him a mellow apple,
And then a gay gold ring,
And then a cherry as red as blood,
To entice the little boy in.
6 She took him by the lily-white hand,
And through the castle they went,
Down in the dark cellar beneath,
Where none could hear him lament.
7 She pinned him in a napkin tight:
Now was n't this a sin?
She then called for a basin bright of gold,
To hold his heart's blood in.
8 "Pray lay my prayer-book at my head,
My Bible at my feet;
And if my playmates ask for me,
Just tell them I 'm asleep.
9 "Pray lay my Bible at my . . . ,
My prayer-book at my feet;
And if my parents ask for me,
Just tell them that I am dead, dead, dead."