The Three Little Babes- Pierce (TN) 1901 Belden
[From: Ballads and Songs by G. L. Kittredge; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 30, No. 117 (Jul. - Sep., 1917), pp. 283-369. His notes follow. This is the 4th version from the JOAFL article by Kittredge.
According to Belden (1940); I have in my file (it was printed in JAFL, XXX 308-9) a text from Tennessee and also one printed in the Grapurchat, school paper of the East Radford (Va.) State Teachers College and sent to me by Professor Jean Taylor. The former was communicated to me by Professor A. R. Hohlfeld of the University of Wisconsin, who had it from Miss Mary Pierce of Nashville, In answer to a query of mine as to the provenience of the text Miss Pierce wrote to me: I remember that the woman who gave me "The Wife of Usher's Well" said that it was from a (ballad) book.'
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
THE WIFE OF USHER'S WELL (Child, No. 79).
Since Miss Backus's North Carolina version of the ballad ("There was a lady fair and gay") was printed in Child, 5: 294, [2] many variants have been collected in this country, belonging to that same general version. Belden publishes a text (from Missouri) in JAFL 23:429; Emma Bell Miles, one in "Harper's Magazine" for June, 1904 (109: 121-122); Cox (44:388 and 45: 11-12) publishes a fragment and a complete copy, both from West Virginia, and reports other variants (cf. 45: 160; JAFL 29: 400) [3] Miss McGill gives words and tune in her "Folk-Songs from the Kentucky Mountains," pp. 4-8. See also Shearin and Combs, p. 9 ("Lady Gay," closely resembles Miss Backus's text); F. C. Brown, p. 9; Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 4, P. 7; No. 5, P. 7; JAFL 27 : 59-62; 28 : 199-202, A peculiar version in Mrs. Leather's "Folk-Lore of Herefordshire " (1912, pp. 198-I99) contains a stanza adapted from "The Carnal and the Crane" (Child, No. 55): [4] -
Then Christ did call for the roasted cock,
That was feathered with his only hands;
He crowed three times all in the dish
In the place where he did stand.
IV. The Three Little Babes.
Communicated by Professor Belden. He received it in I905 from Professor A. R. Hohlfeld, who had it from Miss Mary Pierce, Nashville, Tenn. Miss Pierce heard the song in the Cumberland Mountains (Stonington Springs, Tenn.) in 1901.
1. A lady and a lady gay,
Children she had three,
She sent them away to a northern college
For to learn some grammaree.
2. They hadn't been gone but a very short time,
About three months and a day,
Till death came over the broad, broad land,
And swept those babes away.
3. And what will the dear mother say
When she does hear of this?
She'll wring her hands, she'll scream, and say,
"O, when shall I see my three babies?"
4. O, Christmas time is a-drawing near,
The nights grew long and cold:
The three little babes came a-lumbering down
All into the mother's room.
5. The table was set and a cloth spread on;
It was set with bread and wine;
"Sit down, sit down, my three little babes,
And eat and drink of mine."
6. "O, mother dear, we cannot eat your bread,
Neither can we drink your wine,
For yonder stands our Saviour dear,
To whom we are design."
7. The bed was fixed in the far back room,
A golden sheet spread on.
"Lie down, lie down, my three little babes,
And sleep till the morning soon."
Footnotes:
2. Reprinted in JAFL 13: 119-120.
3. Cox (44 : 388) also prints two stanzas of a version corresponding to Child's A, which appears to have been brought to West Virginia from Ireland.
4 Compare Broadwood, English Traditional Songs and Carols, pp. 74-75, 122; Sharp, English Folk-Carols, No. I, pp. 2-4; Journal of Folk-Song Society, I : 183; 4: 22-25; a broadside of about 1780, Worcester [England], J. Grundy (Harvard College Library, 25242.5.5 R49, No. i3]); Notes and Queries, 3d series, 3: 94.