The Three Ravens- Throckmorton (Va.) 1922 Davis H
[From Davis, Traditional Ballads from Virginia, 1929 p. 137-145. Davis's notes follow. Belden points out in Ballads and Songs 1940:
One of the Virginia versions (TBV H) has taken up the following lines:
So said the blackbird to the crow,
'Down in the cornfield we will go.
'Ever since Adam and Eve were made
The picking of corn has been our trade,'
which are a form of what exists in Missouri as a separate bit of traditional song. Simiiar lines are reported from North Carolina in MSITIC I0-2. Professor G. C. Broadhead gave me the following in 1910 as known to him for many years:
Says the blackbird to the crow,
'What makes white folks hate us so?
Ever since the world was made,
pulling up corn has been our trade.
R. Matteson 2014]
10. THE THREE RAVENS
(Child, No. 26)
IN Virginia "The Three Ravens" have become "The Three Crows," som€etimes "The Two Crows." The Virginia variants, though they may differ in many resp€ects, both as to words and tune, are sufficiently alike to prove a similar origin. They lack at once the tenderness of the English "The Three Ravens" and the cynicism of the Scottish "The Twa Corbies." Their verbal resemblance with the Child texts ceases after the first two stanzas, and in spirit they are far removed from the human drama, touching or cynical, of the Child counterparts. Human actors have been entirely eliminated. "The Three Crows " is usually a comic animal song, which lends itself rather easily to improvisation and even parody. Two interesting civil war parodies are given as appendices to the ballad. C is a good example of comic addition to the old ballad. Minor variations in the several texts are exceedingly interesting.
For American texts, see Barry, No. 27; Brown, p. 9 (North Carolina); Bulletin 4,5, 7-10; Campbell and Sharp, No. 10 (Virginia; cf. Sharp, Songs,II, No. 5); Cox No. 6, and p. 522 (melody); Heart Songs, p. 485 Hudson, No. 5 (Mississippi); Jones, p. 301; Journal XX, 154 (Beatty, Wisconsin), 273 (Tatlock, Ohio); for additional references see Cox, p. 31, Journal, XXXI, 273.
H. "The Three Ravens." collected by Mr. John Stone. Recited by Mrs. Martha C. Throckmorton, of Bluemont, Va. Loudon County; September 4, 1922. A much more palatable variant, without the usual scavenger ending.
1 There were three crows sat on a tree
And they were black as crows could be.
2 Said one black crow unto his mate
'What shall we do for food to ate?"
3 So said the blackbird to the crow,
Down in the cornfield we will go.
4 "Ever since Adam and Eve were made
The picking of corn has been our trade."