It Rained a Mist- Wright (NC-VA) 1915 Davis G
[From Traditional Ballads of Virginia, Davis- 1929. Notes by Davis follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
TRADITIONAL BALLADS OF VIRGINIA NOTES
SIR HUGH, or, THE JEW'S DAUGHTER
(Child, No. 155)
This familiar old ballad is founded upon what passed for an actual occurrence in England in the year 1255. Child summarizes the story told by a contemporary writer in the Annals of Waverley, in these words: "A boy in Lincoln, named Hugh, was crucified by the Jews in contempt of Christ, with various preliminary tortures. To conceal the act from Christians, the body, when taken from the cross, was thrown into a running stream, but the water would not endure the wrong done its maker, and immediately ejected it upon dry land. The body was then buried in the earth, but was found above ground the next day; The guilty parties were now very much frightened and quite at their wit's end; as a last resort they threw the corpse into a drinking-well. Thereupon the whole place was filled with so brilliant a light and so sweet an odor that it was clear to everybody that there must be something holy and prodigious in the well. The body was seen floating on the water, and, upon, its being drawn up, the hands and feet were found to be pierced, the head had, as it were, a crown of bloody points, and there were various other wounds, from all which it was. plain that this was the work of the abominable Jews. A blind woman, touching the bier on which the blessed martyr's corpse was carrying to the church, received her sight, and many other miracles followed. Eighteen Jews, convicted of the crime, and confessing it with their own mouth, were hanged." Additional circumstances are supplied by other contemporary or near--contemporary writers, and many other instances of child murder, or pretended child-murder by the Jews, with horrible Christian reprisals, are cited by Child, who concludes that they are "only a part of a persecution which, with all moderation, may be rubricated as the most disgrace chapter in the history of the human race."
The English ballads founded upon the Hugh of Lincoln incident of course depart a good deal from the original occurrence, and doubtless, in the course of long tradition, from their original form. The story told by most of the Virginia texts is this: some little boys are playing ball, and one tosses the ball into the Jew's garden, where no one dares to go'. The Jew's daughter invites the boy in, but he refuses because he fears he may not come out again. She entices him in with- a red apple or other attraction, leads him to a remote part of the house where none may hear him call, and there sticks him with a pin and stabs him with a carving-knife, after providing a basin in which to catch his heart's blood. (In D and F, the boy finds his own nurse within, picking a chicken; but she is deaf to his entreaties. Compare Child H and K. The boy asks that a Bible be put at his head, a prayer book at his feet, that his mother be told that he is asleep, his playmates that he is dead. In D and E, I and J, he is carried away and thrown into a deep well.
The sixteen Virginia texts, which clearly represent more than one version, show their closest relationship to the Child series G, H, I, J, K, but the likeness is by no means exact in any case. Stanza A 6 and the corresponding stanza in other Virginia texts are most.like child F4 and N6. In Virginia text is the boy named (except in the title, which may be the work of the collector). The subsequent action of Child A-F, in which the mother sets out to seek her son, converses with him miraculously in the well, and finally has his body returned to her, with attendant miracles, is entirely lacking in the Virginia texts.
"The Jew's Daughter" is the most usual Virginia title, but "It Rained a Mist," "The Little School Boy," and "A Little Boy Threw His Ball So High" are also known. "Sir Hugh" and "Little Harry Hughes" are doubtless borrowed. Seven melodies are given, some related, some quite distinct.
For American texts see Belden, No, 8 (fragment); Bulletin, Nos. 2-5, 7, 9, 11; Campbell and Sharp, No. 26 (North Carolina, Child, III, 248 (Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York from Newell's Games and Sings of American Children); Cox, No. 9; Hudson, No. 17 (and, Journal, XXXIX 108 Mississippi) Jones, p. 301; Journal, xv, 195 (reprinted from the New York Tribune August 17, 1902, H. E. Krehbiel) ; xix, 293 (Belden, Missouri, Kentucky) XXIX, 164 (Tolman, Indiana, Connecticut); xxxv, 344 Tolman and Eddy, Iads, text and melody); xxxix, 212 (Rinker, Pennsylvania); Pound, Ballads No. 5; Scarborough, p. 53 Virginia, text and melody, Alabama from The University of Virginia Magazine, December, 1912); Shearin, p. 4, Shearin and Combs, p. 8; C. A. Smith, p. 15 (New York from Newell Games and Songs of American Children, Virginia, three melodies only, Alabama, text and melody); Reed Smith, Ballad No. 11. For additional references, see Cox, p. 120: Journal, xxix, 164; xxx, 322; xxxv, 344.
G. "It Rained a Mist." Collected by Miss Juliet Fauntleroy. Sung by Miss Hooney Wright, from Surrey County, North Carolina, and Altavista, Va., Campbell County. September 19, 1915.
I It rained a mist, it rained a mist,
It rained all over the town,
When two little boys went out to play,
To toss their ball around.
2 The first they tossed the ball too high,
And they tossed it too low,
And they tossed it in the Jew Lady's yard
Where no one was 'lowed to go.
3 The Jew lady came to the door
And invited the little one in.
"Come in, come in, you bright little son,
You shall have your ball again."
4 "I can't come in, I won't come in,
Unless my playmate comes too,
I've heard of boys going in
Who never were known to come out."
5 First she showed him a golden watch,
And then she showed him a chain;
And then she showed him a diamond ring
To entice the little one in.
6 She took him by his little white hand
And led him through the hall;
She took him to the dining room
Where no one could hear him call.
7 She pinned a napkin over his face.
She pinned in with a pin,
And then she took the carving knife
And carved his little heart in.
8 "Bury a prayer-book at my feet,
A Bible at my head,
And if my playmates call for me.
Just tell them I am dead."