It Rains in Old Scotland- Nourse (PA) c.1802 Child G
[My title and date. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis J. Child; Volume 5: Ballads 114-155 published January/February, 1888. Child G b is the same informant as Child H, a Miss Perine of Baltimore. Child H, however, is Miss Perine's own version taken from her mother. Mrs. Nourse's version dates back to the 1700s since the informant's source surely knew it then. The changes for G b. appear as such:
G. a. 24. darest.
b. 12. doth fall.
13. When all.
14. Were out a playing ball.
21. We toss the balls so.
22. We toss the balls so.
23. We've tossed it
24. Where no one dares to.
31. out and came the Jew's daughter.
33. Said, Come.
41. will not come in, I cannot.
42. playfellows.
43. Nor for And.
44. Which will.
After 4:
I must not come, I dare not come,
I cannot come at all,
For if my mother should call for me,
I cannot hear her call.
54. To entice this.
After 5 (compare Miss Perine's own version, H 6):
She put him in a little chair,
She pinned him with a pin,
And then she called for a wash-basin,
To spill his heart's blood in.
63. dressing.
72. And the. 3 comes before 6.
83. they threw: deep dark well.
84. Was fifty fathoms.
9 wanting.
R. Matteson 2015]
G. [It rains, it rains in old Scotland] a. Written down by Mrs. Dulany, January 14, 1885, from the recitation of her mother, Mrs. Nourse, aged above ninety, as learned when a child, in Philadelphia.
b. From the same source, furnished several years earlier by Miss Perine, of Baltimore (learned circa 1825).
1 It rains, it rains in old Scotland,
And down the rain does fa,
And all the boys in our town
Are out a-playing at ba.
2 'You toss your balls too high, my boys,
You toss your balls too low;
You'll toss them into the Jew's garden,
Wherein you darst[1] not go.'
3 Then out came one of the Jew's daughters,
All dressed in red and green:
'Come in, come in, my pretty little boy,
And get your ball again.'
4 'I winna come in, and I canna come in,
Without my playmates all,
And without the will of my mother dear,
Which would cause my heart's blood to fall.'
5 She shewed him an apple as green as grass,
She shewed him a gay gold ring,
She shewed him a cherry as red as blood,
Which enticed the little boy in.
6 She took him by the lily-white hand,
And led him into the hall,
And laid him on a dresser-board,
And that was the worst of all.
7 She laid the Bible at his head,
The Prayer-Book at his feet,
And with a penknife small
She stuck him like a sheep.
8 Six pretty maids took him by the head,
And six took him by the feet,
And threw him into a deep draw-well,
That was eighteen fathoms deep.
* * * * *
9 'The lead is wondrous heavy, mother,
The well is wondrous deep,
A keen pen-knife sticks in my heart,
And nae word more can I speak.'
1. darest