The Jew's Garden- Fricker (PA) c.1890 Beckwith
[From: The Jew's Garden, etc. by Martha W. Beckwith; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 64, No. 252 (Apr. - Jun., 1951), pp. 224-225. The date this version was submitted was around 1921. Assuming Mrs. J. B. Fricker learned it when she was around 14 years old and she (now a grandmother) was at least 60 at the time this would put the date in the 1880s or earlier. I put c.1890 to be safe.
R. Matteson 2013, 2015]
THE JEW'S GARDEN, ETC. : - Almost thirty years ago one of my students at Vassar College, Miss H. K. Mull, submitted to me a song collected from her grandmother, Mrs. J. B. Fricker of Reading, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Fricker, who had lived in Reading all her life, learned the song in secondary school. Miss Mull queried the second line of Stanza 3 as "silk and white," and the second line of Stanza 4 as "without my playmates do," This ballad apparently is Child Ballad No. 155, "Sir Hugh or The Jew's Daughter."
"The Jew's Garden"
It rained a mist, it rained a mist,
It rained all over the town;
And all the boys in our town
Came out to toss their balls, balls, balls,
Came out to toss their balls.
At first they tossed their balls too high,
And then again too low;
And then into the Jew's garden
Where no one had dare to go, go, go,
Where no one had dare to go.
Out came the Jewish daughter,
All dressed in silken white;
"Come in, my little boy," she said,
"You may have your ball again, 'gain, 'gain,
You may have your ball again."
"I won't come in, I shan't come in,
Without my playmates too;
For I've often heard who would come in
Would never come out again, 'gain, 'gain,
Would never come out again."
She showed him a red rose apple,
And then a gay gold ring,
And then a cherry as red as blood,
To entice the little boy in, in, in,
To entice the little boy in.
She took him to the parlor,
And then into the hall,
And then into the dining room,
Where no one could hear him call, call, call,
Where no one could hear him call.
She wrapped him in a napkin,
And pinned it with a pin;
And she called for the carving knife,
To stab his little heart in, in, in,
To stab his little heart in.