“Old Man's Three Sons (Jeffery, James, and John)”
Description
"There was an old (wo)man had three sons, (Jerry) and James and John. Jerry was hung, and James was drowned, John was lost and never found, And there was the end of (her) three sons, Jerry and James and John."
Notes
Opie-Oxford2: "This is the first of fourteen verses in _The Old Woman and Her Three Sons_, a toy book with coloured illustrations published by John Harris in 1815. It is a verse which was certainly current in the reign of Charles I, and may go back to Elizabeth's time." - BS
References
- Opie-Oxford2 540, "There was an old woman had three sons" (3 texts)
- Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #262, p. 160, "(There was an old woman had three sons)"
- Roud #4661
- BI, BGNG262