A Little Boy Threw His Ball- Dashiell (VA) 1921 Davis E
[Abbreviated title. From Traditional Ballads of Virginia, Davis- 1929. Notes by Davis follow. Davis fails to acknowledge that this version was first published by Scaborough in 1925 (see below), as sung to the informant by her African-American mammy. Scarborough later included it in "A Song Catcher" 1938.
This is an example of the "nurse/sister/maid picking a chicken" version which is categorized by McCabe as Group III ii.
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.
E. "A Little Boy Threw His Ball so High." Contributed by Mrs. Landon Randolph Dashiell, of Richmond, Va. sung by herself. Fauquier County. April 11, 1921. With music.
1 A little boy threw his ball so high,
He threw his ball so low;
He threw it into a dusky garden
Among the blades of snow.
2 "Come hither, come hither, my sweet little boy,
Come hither and get your ball."
"I'll neither come hither, I'll neither come there,
I'll not come get my ball."
3 She showed him an apple as yellow as gold,
She showed him a bright gold ring,
She showed him a cherry as red as blood,
And that enticed him in.
4 Enticed him into the drawinq-room
And then into the kitchen-,
And there he saw his own dear nurse,
A-pick-i-ing a chicken!
5 "I've been washing this basin this live-long day,
To catch your heart's blood in."
"Pray spare my life, pray spare my life,
Pray spare my life!" cried he.
I'll not spare your life,
I'll not spare your life," cried she.
6 "Pray put my Bible at my feet,
My payer-book at my feet,
If any of my playmates should ask for me,
Oh, tell them I'm dead and asleep.
7 She dragged him on his cooling board,
And stabbed him like sheep.
She threw him into dusky well
Where many have fallen asleep.
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From: On The Trail Of Negro Folk-Songs; Scarborough 1925
I am indebted to Mrs. Dashiell for the words and music of another ballad of ancient tradition, A Little Boy Threw His Ball So High, of which she says: "I give it just as my childhood heard it. The old nigger always said dusky for dusty, and I really think she showed great discernment, as Musky garden filled with snow' and 'dusky weir seem more appropriate and probably more horrible." This also was learned from the singing of her Negro mammy, who rocked her to sleep by it. " Imagine innocence going to sleep after such a lulÂlaby!" Mrs. Dashiell comments.
A LITTLE BOY THREW HIS BALL
A little boy threw his ball so high,
He threw his ball so low.
He threw it into a dusky garden
Among the blades of snow.
"Come hither, come hither, my sweet little boy;
Come hither and get your ball."
"I'll neither come hither, I'll neither-come there,
I'll not come get my ball."
She showed him an apple as yellow as gold,
She showed him a bright gold ring,
She showed him a cherry as red as blood,
And that enticed him in.
Enticed him into the drawing-room
And then into the kitchen,
And there he saw his own dear nurse
A-pi-i-icking a chicken!
"I've been washing this basin the live-long day
To catch your heart's blood in."
"Pray spare my life, pray spare my life,
Pray spare my life!" cried he.
"I'll not spare your life, I'll not spare your life," cried she.
"Pray put my Bible at my head,
My prayer-book at my feet.
If any of my playmates ask for me,
Oh, tell them I'm dead and asleep."
She dragged him on his cooling-board,
And stabbed him like a sheep.
She threw him into a dusky well
Where many have fallen asleep.
This is recognizable as the old ballad, The Jew's Daughter, telling a tale of the supposed murder of a little boy by a Jewess. Matthew Prior refers to the occasion which is thought to form the basis for this, as of the date of 1255. Chaucer uses the plot for his "Prioresse's Tale" the piteous story of the innocent done to death.