Little Sir Hugh- Slocumb (NC) c1931 Scarborough B
[From Scarborough; Song Catcher, 1938. Her notes follow. The title or text "Sir Hugh" is not found in the US as far as I know, except for this version- usually it's "Son Hugh." Also "Lincoln" is not found. Perhaps it was edited by Lovingood or someone familiar with the ballad.
R. Matteson 2015]
Mrs. Charity Lovingood, of Murphy, North Carolina, sent me, through Mrs. Rachel Slocumb, a specimen which is similar to, but not identical with, that collected in America by Cecil J. Sharp.
(B) Little Sir Hugh
It rains, it rains, in merry Lincoln,
It rains both great and small,
When all the boys come out to play,
To play and toss the ball.
They play, they toss the ball so high,
They toss the ball so low,
They toss it over the Jew's garden
Where all the fine Jews go.
The first that came out was a Jew's daughter,
Was dressed all in green;
"Come in, come in, my little Sir Hugh,
To have your ball again."
"I cannot come there, I will not come there,
Without my playmates all,
For I know full well from my mother dear
'Twill cause my blood to fall."
The first she offered was a fig,
The next a finer thing,
The third a cherry as red as blood,
Which tolled the young thing in.
She set him up in a gilty[1] chair,
She gave him sugar sweet,
She laid him out on a dresser-board
And stabbed him like a sheep.
One hour and the school was over,
His mother came out to call,
With a little rod under her apron
To beat her son withal.
"Go home, go home, my heavy mother,
Prepare a winding-sheet;
And if my father should ask of me,
Pray tell him I'm fast asleep."
"My head is heavy, I cannot get up,
The well is cold and deep;
Besides, a penknife sticks in my heart,
So out I cannot creep."
1. probably "gilded." Cf. Lumkin's version, which has "easy chair." Cf. Robert's version, which has "silver shair."