20. Porquoi- Evans (MO-KY) 1922
20 - POURQUOI
Contributed by Miss Mary Louise Evans, Columbia, Missouri, July 22, 1922. Learned in Henderson, Kentucky, her former home.
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Title supplied by General Editor. Pourquoi is a French term applied to a story which professes to give the reason for some natural phenomenon, e.g., as to why the robln's breast is red (cox).
1. "Oh, said the Blackbird, sitting on a tree,
"I had a wife as well as thee;
But she flew away and never came back,
And ever since then my head's been black."
2. "Oh," said the Redbird, sitting on a tree,
"I had a wife as well as thee;
But she grew fickle and away she fled,
And ever since then my head's been red.
3. "Oh," said the Bluebird, sitting on a tree,
"I had a wife as well as thee;
But she grew fickle and away she flew,
And ever since then my head's been blue."
4. "Oh," said the Greenbird, sitting on a tree,
"I had a wife as well as thee,
But she flew away and never was seen,
And ever since then my head's been green."
5. "Oh," said the Whitebird, sitting on a tree,
"I had a wife as well as thee;
But she eloped one stormy nlght,
And ever since then my head's been white."
6. "Oh," said the Graybird, sitting on a tree,
"I had a wife as well as thee;
But she grow fickle and flew away,
And ever since then my head's been gray."
7. "Oh," said the Yellowbird, sitting on a tree,
"I had a wife as well as thee,
But she flew away with another fellow,
And ever since then my head's been yellow."
8. "Oh," said the Brownbird, sitting on a tree,
"I had a wife as well as thee;
But she flew away into the town,
And ever since then my head's been brown."
See NC III 203.