The Four Sisters- Halliwell 1849; Child B
[Child introduces two riddle variants in his Narrative to ballad No. 46 Captain Wedderburn's Courtship. The first is the Riddle Song text from the Sloane Manuscript, No 2593, British Museum, dates back to the mid-1400s. The second variant appears in a footnote, the nursery song, "The Four Sister" or "Para-mara, Dictum, Domine" from Haliwell. Usually there are four riddles in the variant versions with the answers supplied.
Below is Haliwell's Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales text.]
The Four Sisters- Child B (footnote 3)
Halliwell's Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales, p. 150; Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes, No 375; Notes and Queries, 3d Ser., IX, 401; 4th Ser., III, 501, 604; Macmillan's Magazine, V, 248, by T. Hughes. The first of these runs:
I have four sisters beyond the sea,
Para-mara, dictum, domine
And they did send four presents to me.
Partum. quartum, paradise, tempum,
Para-mara, dictum, domine
The first it was a bird without eer a bone,
The second was a cherry without eer a stone.
The third it was a blanket without eer a thread,
The fourth it was a book which no man could read.
How can there be a bird without eer a bone?
How can there be a cherry without eer a stone?
How can there be a blanket without eer a thread?
How can there be a book which no man can read?
When the bird's in the shell, there is no bone;
When the cherry's in the bud, there is no stone.
When the blanket's in the fleece, there is no thread;
When the book's in the press, no man can read.
The Minnesinger dames went far beyond our laird's daughter in the way of requiring "ferlies" from their lovers. Der Tanhuser and Boppe represent that their ladies would he satisfied with nothing short of their turning the course of rivers; bringing them the salamander, the basilisk, the graal, Paris's apple; giving them a sight of Enoch and Elijah in the body, a hearing of the sirens, etc. Von der Hagen, Minnesinger, II, 91 f, 385 f.
______________
Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales: a sequel to the nursery rhymes - Page 150; James Orchard Halliwell- Phillipps - 1849
THE FOUR SISTERS
I have four sisters beyond the sea,
Para-mara, dictum, domine.
And they did send four presents to me,
Partum, quartum, paradise, tempum,
Para-mara, dictum, domine!
The first it was a bird without e'er a bone;
Para-mara, dictum, &c.
The second was a cherry without e'er a stone;
Partum, quartum, &c.
The third it was a blanket without e'er a thread,
Para-mara, dictum, &c.
The fourth it was a book which no man could read,
Partum, quartum, &c.
How can there be a bird without e'er a bone?
Para-mara, dictum, &c.
How can there be a cherry without e'er a stone?
Partum, quartum, &c.
How can there be a blanket without e'er a thread?
Para-mara, dictum, &c.
How can there be a book which no man can read?
Partum, quartum, &c.
When the bird's in the shell, there is no bone;
Para-mara, dictum, &c.
When the cherry's in the bud, there is no stone;
Partum, quartum, &c.
When the blanket's in the fleece, there is no thread;
Para-mara, dictum, &c.
When the book's in the press, no man can read;
Partum, quartum, &c.
Several versions of this metrical riddle are common in the North of England, and an ingenious antiquary has suggested that it is a parody on the old monkish songs! It will remind the reader of the Scottish ballad of Captain Wedderburn's Courtship,
O hold away from me, kind sir,
I pray you let me be;
For I will not go to your bed,
Till you dress me dishes three:
Dishes three you must dress to me,
And I must have them a',
Before that I lie in your bed,
Either at stock or wa'.
O I must have to my supper
A cherry without a stone;
And I must have to my supper
A chicken without a bone:
And I must have to my supper
A bird without a ga',
Before I lie into your bed,
Either at stock or wa'.
When the cherry is in the bloom,
I'm sure it hath no stone;
And when the chicken is in its shell,
I'm sure it hath no bone:
The dove it is a gentle bird,
It flies without a ga',
And we shall both lie in ae bed,
And thou's lie next the wa'.
The belief that a pigeon or dove has no gall forms the subject of a chapter in Browne's Vulgar and Common Errors, iii. 3. The gall-bladder does not exist in the dove.