Recordings & Info 46A. The Riddle Song
[I've created Appendix 46 A. for "I Gave my A Cherry," the "Perrie Merrie" versions and other related versions. The Child Collection (recordings & publications) for example, lumps Captain Wedderburn's Courtship with these variants. See also 46. Captain Wedderburn's Courtship]
CONTENTS:
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index
3) Folk Index
4) Child Collection Index
5) Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
6) Wiki
7) Mainly Norfolk (lyrics and info)
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud Number 330: Riddle Song (106 Listings)
2) 'The Riddle Song' and the Shepherds' Gifts
3) Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree- Gilchrist 1940
Alternative Titles
The Four Sisters (Halliwell 1849)
The Four Brothers
Peri Meri Dixie Dominie
Perrie, Merrie, Dixi, Domini
I Gave My Love a Cherry
The Riddle Song
Gifts From Over the Sea
I'll Give My Love an Apple
Go No More A-Rushing
Never Go A-Rushing
We'll No More Go A-Rushing
A Paradox (Go No More A-Rushing)
Traditional Ballad Index: I Gave My Love a Cherry
DESCRIPTION: The singer gave his love "a cherry without a stone... a chicken without a bone," etc. He is asked how these things are possible. The reply: "A cherry when it's blooming, it has no stone," etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1430 (British Museum -- Sloane MS. 2593, "I have a yong suster")
KEYWORDS: riddle nonballad love gift
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South,West),Scotland) Canada(Mar) US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So)
REFERENCES (31 citations):
Bronson (46), 18 versions given as an appendix to "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship"
Randolph 123, "The Four Brothers" (1 text)
BrownII 12, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (1 text plus mention of another, but it is nothing but riddles and not to be connected with Child #46)
Boswell/Wolfe 16 pp. 30-31, "I Gave My Love a Cherry (Captain Wedderburn's Courtship)" (1 text, 1 tune, which despite the second title consists solely of the riddles)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 230-231, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (1 text with no listed local title; it is nothing but riddles and not to be connected with Child #46)
Eddy 8, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune, with little except the riddles and no sign that it was ever part of the longer ballad) {Bronson's #15}
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 299-315, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (3 texts plus two fragments, 5 tunes; the "I" and II" texts and tunes are "I Gave My Love a Cherry")
Gardner/Chickering 188, "Gifts From Over the Sea" (1 text plus mention of 1 more, 1 tune) {Bronson's #13}
SharpAp 144, "The Riddle Song" (3 texts, 3 tunes) {Bronson's #7, #6, #5}
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 25, "I Gave My Love a Cherry" (1 text)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 162-163, "I'll Give My Love an Apple" (1 text plus 1 fragment, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #2a,2b}
Linscott, pp. 267-269, "Perrie, Merrie, Dixi, Domini" (1 text, 1 tune)
Friedman, p. 137, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (2 texts, but only the second belongs with this song)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 136-137, "I'll Give My Love an Apple" (1 text, 1 tune)
Niles 1, "Riddles Wisely Expounded" (3 texts, 3 tunes, of which the second, "The Riddle Song," and the third, "Piri-miri-dictum Domini," go with this piece)
Scott-BoA, pp. 9-10, "I Will Give My Love an Apple" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 11, "I'll Give My Love an Apple" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 59, "The Riddle Song" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #7}
Reeves-Sharp 73, "Pery Mery Winkle Domine" (1 text)
Opie-Oxford2 478, "I have four sisters beyond the sea" (3 texts plus a photo facing p. 388 of the text in the Sloane MS)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #270, pp. 162-163, "(My true love lives far from me)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 189, "(I had three little sisters across the sea)" (1 text)
Arnett, p. 41, "The Riddle Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, pp. 156-157, "The Riddle Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Stevick-100MEL 56, "(I Have a Yong Suster)" (1 text)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 55-56, "Peri Meri Dixie Dominie" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 72, "Riddle Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 408, "Riddle Song" (1 text)
DT, RIDDLSNG RDDLSNG3* (GONORUSH*) PERIMERI*
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #65, "I Have a Young Sister" (1 text); notes to #258 ("I have three presents from over the sea") (1 excerpt)
Brown/Robbins, _Index of Middle English Verse_, #1303
Roud #36
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "The Riddle Song" (on PeteSeeger18)
Tony Wales, "Piri-iri-igdum" (on TWales1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" [Child 46]
cf. "Riddles Wisely Expounded" [Child 1]
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I Have a Young Sister
Perri Merri Dictum, Domine
NOTES: Certain scholars have seen this as a worn-down form of "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" [Child 46]. Since, however, it goes back at least to 1430, the dependency is if anything in the other direction. But there is no real reason to believe they are related in any but a casual way; riddle songs were popular for a long time. Still, because many scholars list versions of this song under "Captain Wedderburn," one should check both songs for complete references
"Go No More A-Rushing" (DT GONORUSH) appears to be an Elizabethan prologue tacked on to the old song.
In modern English and in far eastern folklore, cherries are associated with sex. Whether that has any significance here I do not know.
Various scholars have tried to wring meaning out of the nonsense "Piri-miri-dictum Domini" refrain. The third and fourth words can become Latin (dictum=word and Domine of course is the word for "Lord"). I've not seen a convincing Latin explanation for "piri" and "miri," however. RBW
Folk Index: The Riddle Song [Sh 144]
Riddle Song
Rt - Captain Wedderburn's Courtship ; I Will Give My Love an Apple ; Peri Meri Dixi
Rm - Across the Blue Mountain/Mountains
Pb - Cherry in Manhatten
Snyder, Jerry (arr.) / Golden Guitar Folk Sing Book, Hansen, fol (1972), p 69 (I Gave My Love A Cherry)
Leisy, James / Songs for Pickin' and Singin', Gold Medal Books, sof (1962), p 61
Friedman, Albert B. (ed.) / Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English-S, Viking, sof (1963/1957), p139 [1930s] (I Gave My Love A Cherry)
Lynn, Frank (ed.) / Songs for Swingin' Housemothers, Fearon, Sof (1963/1961), p150b
Best, Dick & Beth (eds.) / New Song Fest Deluxe, Hansen, Sof (1971/1948), p 44
Tobitt, Janet E. (ed.) / Ditty Bag, Tobitt, Sof (1946/1939), p152
Winds of the People, Sing Out, Sof (1982), p 37 (I Gave My Love A Cherry)
Lomax, Alan / Folk Songs of North America, Doubleday Dolphin, Sof (1975/1960), p 27/# 11 (I'll Give My Love an Apple)
Wells, Evelyn Kendrick (ed.) / The Ballad Tree, Ronald, Bk (1950), p175
Blood, Peter; and Annie Patterson (eds.) / Rise Up Singing, Sing Out, Sof (1992/1989), p135
Boni, Margaret Bradford (ed.) / Fireside Book of Folk Songs, Simon & Schuster, Bk (1947), p 25
Scofield, Twilo (ed.) / An American Sampler, Cutthroat, Sof (1981), p 40
Mursell, James, et.al.(eds.) / Music Now and Long Ago, Silver Burdette, Bk (1956), p100
Shelton, Robert (ed.) / Josh White Song Book, Quadrangle, Sof (1963), p145
Leisy, James F. (ed.) / Folk Song Abecedary, Bonanza, Bk (1966), p279
Herder, Ronald (ed.) / 500 Best-Loved Song Lyrics, Dover dn500/500, Sof (1998), p150b (I Gave My Love A Cherry)
Agay, Denes / Best Loved Songs of the American People, Doubleday, fol (1975), p372
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p162 (Captain Wedderburn's Courtship)
Kersey, Robert E. (ed.) / Just Five; A Collection of Pentatonic Songs, Belwin Mills, Fol (1972), p36
Krull, Kathleen (ed.) / Gonna Sing My Head Off!, Knopf, Bk (1992), p 87 (I Gave My Love A Cherry)
Archer, Frances; and Beverly Gile. Child's Garden of Verses, Disneyland DQ 1241, LP (1963/1957), trk# B.03
Baez, Joan. Joan Baez in San Francisco, Fantasy 5015, LP (1964), trk# 10 (I Gave My Love A Cherry)
Baez, Joan. Very Early Joan, Vanguard VSD7 9446/7, LP (1982), trk# B.06 [1961-63]
Barker, Horton. Chase, Richard (ed.) / American Folk Tales and Songs, Dover, sof (1971/1956), p156 [1930-40's]
Brand, Oscar. Brand, Oscar / Folk Songs for Fun, Berkeley Medallion, Sof (1961), p 43
Creech, Wilma. Niles, John Jacob / Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles, Bramhall House, Bk (1961), p 5/N 1B [1933]
Dick and Dee Dee. Turn Around, Warner W 1538, LP (1964), trk# B.03
Dunagan, Margaret. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians II, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p191/# 144C [1917/10/12]
Farina, Richard. Dick Farina & Eric Von Schmidt, Folklore F-Leut/7, LP (1963), trk# B.05
Gibbons, Denis. Hootenanny Folk Concert, Strand SLS 1106, LP (196?), trk# B.02
Hart, Tim; and Friends. Favourite Nursery Rhymes and Other Childrens Songs, EMI HR 8173, Cas (1989/1983), trk# B.09
Hill, Hank; and the Tennessee Folk Trio. Folk Song Hall of Fame, Palace M-716, LP (1960), trk# 8
Ives, Burl. Wayfaring Stranger, Columbia CS 9041, LP (1964/1955), trk# A.05b
Ives, Burl. Ives, Burl / Burl Ives Song Book, Ballantine Books, Bk (1953), p 38
Ives, Burl. Lollipop Tree, Harmony HS 14551, LP (197?), trk# B.02
Kincaid, Bradley. Bradley Kincaid, Volume 1, Old Homestead OHCS 314, LP (1984/1963), trk# B.02 [1963/07ca] (I Gave My Love A Cherry)
Lakesiders. Lakesiders of Lake Oswego, Oregon, Lakesider --, LP (196?), trk# B.06
Langstaff, John. Water Is Wide. American and British Ballads and Folksongs, Revels 2202, CD (2002), trk# 6 [1959]
Limeliters. Through Children's Eyes, RCA (Victor) LSP 2512, LP (1962), trk# B.04
Luxon, Benjamin; and Bill Crofut. Simple Gifts. British and American Folk Songs, Stolat SZM 0124, LP (1981), trk# B.05b (I Gave My Love A Cherry)
MacArthur, Margaret. MacArthur, Margaret / How to Play the MacArthur Harp, Front Hall FHRBP 1005, sof (1986), trk# p22
Marshals, Margaret. Shay, Frank (ed.) / My Pious Friends and Drunken Companions and More ..., Dover, Sof (1961/1927), p194 (I'll Give My Love a Cherry)
Mayhan, Judy. Folk Songs of Old Eire, Tradition TR 2075, LP (1962), trk# 5 (I Gave My Love A Cherry)
Okun, Milt. America's Best Loved Folk Songs, Baton BL 1293, LP (1957), trk# B.06
Pace, Eliza. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians II, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p190/# 144B [1917/10/09]
Priddy, Nancy. Wolfe, Charles K.(ed.) / Folk Songs of Middle Tennessee. George Boswell, Univ. Tennesse, Sof (1997), p 30/# 16 [1950/06/27] (I Gave My Love A Cherry)
Raunch Hands. Against the World, Columbia Special Prod. CSRP 586, LP (1960), trk# A.04a (I Gave My Love A Cherry)
Ritchie, Jean; and Oscar Brand. Courting and Riddle Songs, Washington WLP 706, LP (1956ca), trk# B.04
Ritchie, Edna. Edna Ritchie, Viper Kentucky, Folk Legacy FSA 003, LP (1962), trk# A.03
Ritchie, Edna. Joyful Singing. Campfire Girls Edition, CSS, poc (1947ca), p47
Ritchie, Frank. Courtin' in Ireland, Request RLP 8060, LP (197?), trk# B.04 (I Gave My Love A Cherry)
Ritchie, Jean. None But One, Sire SA 75230, LP (1977), trk# 8
Seeger, Peggy. Cold Snap, Folkways FW 8765, LP (1978), trk# A.01
Seeger, Pete. Folksingers Guitar Guide, Folkways FI 8354, LP (196?), trk# A.02
Seeger, Pete. Seeger, Pete / American Favorite Ballads, Oak, fol (1961), p72
Seeger, Pete. American Favorite Ballads, Smithsonian/Folkways SFW-CD 40155, CD( (2009), trk# 2.09 [1958]
Simmons Family. Simmons, Tommy (ed.) / Simmons Family Songbook, Simmons, Sof (1974), p36
Smith, Dennis. Fowke, Edith and Richard Johnston / Folk Songs of Canada, Waterloo Music, Bk (1954), p136 (I'll Give My Love an Apple)
Stanley, Peter & Christopher. I Went Downtown to Get My Purse, Talkeetna 25009, CD (1999), 12 (I Gave My Love A Cherry)
Stanley, Peter; and Victoria Young. Coming Home, Talkeetna 25006, CD (1999), trk# 14 [1983ca] (I Gave My Love A Cherry)
Stracke, Win. Folk Songs for the Young, Golden Records, LP (1962), trk# B.04
White, Josh. Josh White, Decca DL 8665, LP (1958/1945), trk# A.01 (I Gave My Love A Cherry)
White, Josh. Okun, Milt (ed.) / Something to Sing About, MacMillan, Bk (1968), p 45
Wilson, Mrs.. Sharp, Cecil & Maude Karpeles (eds.) / Eighty English Folk Songs from th, MIT Press, Sof (1968), p 80 [1917ca]
Wilson, Mrs.. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians II, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p190/# 144A [1917/05/02]
Wilson, Mrs.. Clayre, Alasdair (ed.) / 100 Folk Songs and New Songs, Wolfe, Sof (1968), p117 [1917]
I Will Give My Love an Apple [Ch 46]
Rt - Riddle Song
Scott, John Anthony (ed.) / Ballad of America, Grosset & Dunlap, Bk (1967), p 9
Gooding, Cynthia. Queen of Hearts, Elektra EKL 131, LP (1953), trk# B.05
Jones, Clark. Early American Folk Music & Songs, Folkways FTS 31091, LP (1982), trk# 3
Langstaff, John. Seeds of Love, Minstrel JD 208, LP (1987), trk# A.03
Luxon, Benjamin; and Bill Crofut. Simple Gifts. British and American Folk Songs, Stolat SZM 0124, LP (1981), trk# B.05a
Ritchie, Jean; and Oscar Brand. Courting and Riddle Songs, Washington WLP 706, LP (1956ca), trk# A.03
Runge, John. English Folk Songs - Old and Older, Washington VM 735, LP (195?), trk# B.08
Summers, Andrew Rowan. Andrew Rowan Summers, Folkways FA 2348, LP (1957), trk# A.01
Peri Meri Dixi [Sh 144]
Rt - Riddle Song ; Four Brothers
Abrahams, Roger D.. Abrahams, Roger; & George Foss / Anglo-American Folksong Style, Prentice-Hall, Sof (1968), 3-9 (Perrie, Merrie, Dixie, Domini)
Aimers, Miss. Reeves, James (ed.) / Idiom of the People, Norton, Sof (1958), p169/# 73 [1914] (Pery Mery Winkle Domine)
Hubbard, Elizabeth Wheeler. Linscott, Eloise Hubbard (ed.) / Folk Songs of Old New England, Dover, Bk (1993/1939), p267 [1920-30s] (Perrie, Merrie, Dixie, Domini)
Lawson, Mrs. W. F.. Moore, Ethel & Chauncey (ed.) / Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest, Univ. of Okla, Bk (1964), p243/#116 [1940s] (Perrie, Merrie, Dixie, Domini)
MacArthur Family. On the Mountains High, Living Folk LFR 100, CD/ (1971), trk# 6
Paton, Caroline. Dulcimer Players News, DPN, Ser, 28/1, p31(2002)
Schrader, Emma. Tolman, Albert H. / Some Songs Traditional in the United States, Amer. Folklore Soc. JAF, Bk (1916), p157-8 (Perry Merry Dictum Dominee)
Swift, Cora L.. Niles, John Jacob / Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles, Bramhall House, Bk (1961), p 7/N 1C [1934/06] (Piri-Miri Dictum Domini)
Four Brothers [Sh 144]
Rt - Peri Meri Dixi
Playter, Frank. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p432/#123 [1920/02/23]
The Riddle Song: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[For the song by John Ondrasik, see The Riddle (song).]
"The Riddle Song," also known as "I Gave My Love a Cherry" is an English folk song,[1] apparently a lullaby, which was carried by settlers to the American Appalachians.[2] It descends from a 15th-century English song in which a maiden says she is advised to unite with her lover.[3] It is related to Child Ballad no. 1, or "Riddles Wisely Expounded"[4] and Child Ballad no. 46[5] Burl Ives recorded it on 11 February 1941[6] for his debut album, Okeh Presents the Wayfaring Stranger. Since then, it has been recorded by many artists, including Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Doc Watson, Sam Cooke, The Meters, and Carly Simon.[7]
The song was featured in the famous toga party scene in the movie National Lampoon's Animal House, where John Belushi's character Bluto comes across a folk singer (portrayed by singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop, who is credited as "Charming Guy With Guitar") performing the song for a group of college girls. Bluto abruptly takes the singer's acoustic guitar out of his hands and smashes it, then hands a splintered piece of it back, saying "Sorry." Bishop told Songfacts that he and the film's musical director Kenny Vance came up with the idea for his folk singer character to perform "Cherry." "It seemed like the right song to do in the scene," he said. The song was also featured in the children's CD, the Song of the Unicorn. It only used two of the verses, and they were changed around a little bit.
One version of the Riddle Song:
"I gave my love a cherry without a stone
I gave my love a chicken without a bone
I gave my love a ring that had no end
I gave my love a baby with no crying
How can there be a cherry that has no stone?
How can there be a chicken that has no bone?
How can there be a ring that has no end?
How can there be a baby with no crying?
A cherry when it's blooming it has no stone
A chicken when it's pipping, it has no bone
A ring while it's rolling, it has no end
A baby when it's sleeping, has no crying [8]
The song's "cherry that has no stone" goes back to the 15th-century version's "the cherye with-outyn ony ston." Some have seen it as a reference to the hymen, and some have even tried to reconstruct an original bawdy version from which modern versions are supposedly bowdlerized.[5] However, the relevant slang sense of "cherry" is not attested till the early 20th century.[9] The other riddles in the original do not resemble the "reconstructions."
Despite the popularity of the title "The Riddle Song", it is merely one of a multitude of riddle songs; the format is common through folk music.[citation needed]
Media Riddle Song: One version of the Riddle Song.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
References
1.^ The Riddle song, on Traditional Songs from England site
2.^ Digital Tradition Folk Music Database: Appalachian version
3.^ Digital Tradition Folk Music Database: Medieval version
4.^ Niles, John Jacob (1960). The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. ISBN 0-486-22716-2.
5.^ a b Thread at Mudcat discussions
6.^ Naxos: Link
7.^ iTunes: Music Store
8.^ ""I Gave My Love a Cherry"". Songfacts.com. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=18010. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
9.^ New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
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Notes and Queries:
Talking of phonetic refrains—sound without sense—can any of your readers help me to a purer version of one which my second brother brought to our nursery from a Cambridgeshire school in connexion with the ballad of the four apparently impossible gifts—the chicken without a bone, tbe cherry without a stone, and the rest—which exists in so many different forms. As one of these variants, I may mention 'Captain Wedderburn's Courtship' of "Girzie Sinclair," which is to be found in Jamieson's 'Popular Ballads,' vol. ii. pp. 154-165. The certainly degraded and vulgar form in which I received it runs thus :—
I had a little sister lived under the sea,
Four pretty preaents the sent me.
Sifolderiddledol, Paradise dumpledum,
Perry merry dictionary, Domlnee.
______________
The Ballads as a Source of Nursery Rhymes
by Jean B. Sanders
Midwest Folklore, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Winter, 1958), pp. 189-198
Although the riddles have been more or less adapted in these two rhymes, riddles proper are clearly seen in "I have four sisters beyond the sea," which contains the same problems and answers as "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship." The probleins are "a chicken without e'er a bone," "a cherry without e'er a stone," 'a book which no man could read,"; and the answers are "When the chicken's in the egg-shell there is no bone," "When the cherry's in the bud there is no stone," and "When the book's in the press, no man can read it."
The similarity of the riddles in the rhyme and in the ballad was noticed by Child, who quotes the rhyme (as it appeared in Halliwell) with the ballad (No. 46, 1, p. 415). Several variants of the rhyme are given. Coffin notes, as well, that "throughout the United States it is common to find the riddles existing alone as a song under the title I Gave My Love A Cherry.[18]
All this seems to point to the fact that the rhyme, as well as the American folksong, derived from the ballad "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship," a conclusion which might logically be drawn were it not for the existence of a fifteenth century manuscript of a song[19] which contains some of the same riddles and which the nursery rhyme resembles more closely than it does the ballad. Perhaps, then, there was a common source, older than any extant source. (The same riddles are also found in Scandinavia.) Of "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" Leach writes: "The meter and stanzaic form of this ballad proclaim it as late and literary in spite of the fact that several versions from folk sources exist. The old element here is the riddle part.[20]
Another old part of the nursery rhyme is the refrain, "Perrie, merrie, dixie, dominie," which was believed by W. Dauncey, who was apparently the first to transcribe it, to be "a relic of the time when Romish hymns were adapted to secular purposes."'[21] The "garbled Latin" is characteristic of oral American variants, as well as of the printed nursery rhyme.[22]
18 Tristram Coffin, The British Traditional Ballad in North America (Philadelphia, 1950), p. 59.
19 Printed in T. Wright, Songs and Carols, p. 33.
20 MacEdward Leach, The Ballad Book (New York, 1955), p. 158.
21 Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, p. 388.
22 See Coffin, British Traditional Ballad, p. 58-9.
______________
Gilchrist: In one form of this riddle-song we get burdens which seem to be a corruption of a Latin exorcism (see "My true love lives far from me" in Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes.) "He sent me a goose, without a bone; Perrie, Merric, Dixie, Domine; He sent me a cherry, without a stone, Petrum, Partrum, Paradise, Temporie, Perrie, Merrie," etc. For other examples see "I had four brothers over the sea," etc., in various collections of traditional songs.
_______________
METRICAL RIDDLE.
(4th S. iii. 501.)
A version of the metrical riddle quoted by R. K. is to be found in Halliwell's Popular Rhyme*, 1849, p. 150. Dauney, in his Ancient Scottish Melodies, Edinburgh, 1838 (p. 180, note), had previously referred to it as a probable example of the ridicule of the Romish mass which characterised some of the songs of the Reformation period in Scotland. Halliwell remarks that— "several versions of this metrical riddle are common in the North of England, and an ingenious antiquary bu suggested that it is a parody on the old monkish songs."
Whichever of these views be correct, I have no doubt it is a very old song. The following version I can trace back for three generations at least: —
"I had a true lover over the sea,
Varla me dixi me domince.
He sent me love tokens one, two, three,
With a rotrum pntrum trumpetrvrum,
Parla me dixi mc diminee.
"He sent me a book that none could read,
He sent me a web without a threed.
"He sent me a cherry without a stone,
He sent me a bird without a bone.
"How can there be a book that none can read
How can there be a web without a threed?
"How can there be a cherry without a stone?
How can there he a bird without a bone?
"When the book's unwritten none can read;
When the web's in the fleece it has no threcd.
"When the cherry's in the blossom it has no stone;
When the bird's in the egg it has no bone."
The refrain I have myself heard in Forfarshire is like Halliwell's, and slightly different from that which R. K. remembers: —
M Quartum partum paradise dentum,
Para mara dixi do-min-ee"
These riddles would appear to have been a favourite method of proving the quality of their wooers of the fair ladies of the times when prowess in the lists was no longer the fashionable criterion. A similar puzzle is the preliminary to the acceptance of "Captain Wedderburn" by "Rosslyn's daughter ": —
"O baud awa frae me,' she says,
I pray you lat me be;
I winna gang to your bed
Till ye dress me dishes three.
Dishes three ye maun dress me,
Gin I should eat them a'
Afore that I lie in your bed,
Either at stock or wa'.
'It's ye maun get to my supper
A cherry without a stane;
An' ye maun get to my supper
A chicken without a bane;
An' ye maun get to my supper
A bird without a gn';
Or I winna lie in your bed,
Either at stock or wa'.'
'It's when the cherry is in the blume,
I'm sure it has nae stane;
An' when the chicken in the egg.
I wat it has nae bane;
An' sin' the flood o' Noah.
The doo she had nae ga':
Sae we'll baith lie in ae bed,
An' yesc He neist the wa'.'"
__________
A Book of Nursery Rhymes by Charles Welsh 1901
Charles Welsh (1850–1914)
British author, bookseller, publisher, managing editor; reporter, The British Trade Journal (1868), managing editor for project at the publishing house of John D. Morris & Co. (Philadelphia). English professor at the University of Notre Dame. Died USA.
PART V. — CHILD PLAY
Plays, Games, Riddles, Counting-Out Rhymes, etc.
My true love lives far from me,
Perrie, Merrie, Dixie, Dominie.
Many a rich present he sends to me,
Petrum, Partrum, Paradise, Temporie,
Perrie, Merrie, Dixie, Dominie.
He sent me a goose without a bone;
He sent me a cherry without a stone.
Petrum, &c.
He sent me a Bible no man could read;
He sent me a blanket without a thread,
Petrum, &c.
How could there be a goose without a bone?
How could there be a cherry without a stone?
Petrum, &c.
How could there be a Bible no man could read?
How could there be a blanket without a thread?
Petrum, &c.
When the goose is in the egg-shell, there is no bone;
When the cherry is in the blossom, there is no stone.
Petrum, &c.
When the Bible is in the press, no man it can read;
When the wool is on the sheep's back, there is no thread.
Petrum, &c.
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National Rhymes of the Nursery 1895; With Introduction By George Saintsbury; London
Four brothers over the sea
I had four brothers over the sea,
Perrie, Merrie, Dixie, Dominie.
And they each sent a present unto me,
Petrum, Partrum, Paradise, Temporie,
Perrie, Merrie, Dixie, Dominie.
The first sent a chicken, without any bones;
The second sent a cherry, without any stones.
Petrum, &c.
The third sent a book, which no man could read;
The fourth sent a blanket, without any thread.
Petrum, &c.
How could there be a chicken without any bones?
How could there be a cherry without any stones?
Petrum, &c.
How could there be a book which no man could read?
How could there be a blanket without a thread?
Petrum, &c.
When the chicken's in the egg-shell, there are no bones;
When the cherry's in the blossom, there are no stones.
Petrum, &c.
When the book's in ye press no man it can read;
When the wool is on the sheep's back, there is no thread.
Petrum, &c.
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Versions found in:
Notes and Queries Vol. 9 3rd S. (228) May 12 1866 Page 401
Notes and Queries Vol. 3 4th S. (74) May 29 1869 Page 501
Notes and Queries Vol. 3 4th S. (78) June 26 1869 Page 604
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History of Llangynwyd Parish ... - Page 112
Thomas Christopher Evans - 1887
Poets
It will be well perhaps that our English readers should not be entirely forgotten. The following rebus, sent by David Nicholas, of Aberpergwm, to Will, is rendered into English for their benefit, as an illustration of the custom of " rhyming riddles," to which we have made allusion. The translation is by Mr. R. D. Morgan —
"My love gave me a cherry that in it had no stone,
And fed me on a wondrous fowl, whose flesh concealed no bone;
And wrapped me in a blanket warm, where ne'er had been a thread,
And shewed me a strange mystic book that ne'er a man had read."
Will Hopkin's reply to which was as follows :—
'My cherries bear no stones when they blossom on the tree,
When fowl lies in the new laid egg, no bone we look to see;
When blankets are but new shorn fleece, we look not there for thread,
Till words are written on a book, words may not there be read."
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Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree is a set of variations, with fugue, for orchestra composed in 1939 by Jaromír Weinberger. It premiered under the direction of Sir John Barbirolli in New York City on October 12, 1939. The work is based on an English popular song of the period[1], which Weinberger is said to have mistaken for a folk song, and opens with the theme presented without preliminaries. Seven variations follow:
Her Majesty's Virginal
The Madrigalists
The Dark Lady
The Highlanders
Pastorale
Mr. Weller, Senior, Discusses Widows With His Son, Samuel Weller, Esquire
Sarabande
The fugue, which ends the work, has an eight-bar subject which finally joins contrapuntally with the original theme of the piece.
It was popularized in Japan during the American occupation of Japan.
Notes and references
1.^ Anne Gilchrist concludes that it is "a version of an old English tune called 'Go no more a-rushing,' which was arranged for virginals by William Byrd and Giles Farnaby—by the latter under the title of 'Tell mee, Daphne.' ... So 'Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree' is really an Old English—perhaps originally a dance—tune, preserved traditionally and lately modernized."
David Ewen, Encyclopedia of Concert Music. New York; Hill and Wang, 1959.
Anne G. Gilchrist, "'Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree': The Adventures of a Tune." The Musical Times, Vol. 81 (Mar. 1940), pp. 112-113.
Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you and you sold me—
The lyrics are an adaptation of ‘Go no more a-rushing’, a popular English campfire song from the 1920s, that was a popular success for Glenn Miller in 19
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PERRY MERRY DIXIE (from The Spinners)
The Spinners (on "Everybody Loves Saturday Night" MFP50339) sing "PERRY MERRY DIXIE",
"I had four brothers, over the sea,
Perry Merry Dixie Domini,
Presents four they sent to me,
Perry Merry Dixie Domini,
Pitrum, partrum, paradisi tempore,
Perry Merry Dixie Domini,
The first sent a cherry which had no stone,
Perry Merry Dixie Domini,
The second sent a chicken which had no bone,
Perry Merry Dixie Domini,
The third sent a blanket which had no thread,
Perry Merry Dixie Domini,
The fourth sent a book which no man had read
Perry Merry Dixie Domini,
Pitrum, partrum, paradisi tempore,
Perry Merry Dixie Domini,
How can there be a cherry which has no stone?
Perry Merry Dixie Domini,
How...........etc
The cherry when it's blooming, it has no stone,
Perry Merry Dixie Domini,
The chicken when it's in the egg it has no bone
Perry Merry Dixie Domini,
The blanket on the sheep's back it has no thread
Perry Merry Dixie Domini,
The book, when it's in the press, no man has read
Perry Merry Dixie Domini,
Pitrum, partrum, paradisi tempore,
Perry Merry Dixie Domini,