Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter

“Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter”

Description

A child tosses the ball into a Jew's/Gypsy's garden. The Jew's daughter/wife lures him into the house, where she murders him, (for ritual purposes?). Dying, he gives instructions for his burial (with a prayer book at his head and a grammar at his feet).

Supplemental text

Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter [Child 155]
  Complete text(s)

          *** A ***

Fatal Flower Garden

From the singing of Nelstone's Hawaiians on Victor 40193 (1929).
Transcribed by Lyle Lofgren.

It rained, it poured, it rained so hard,
It rained so hard all day,
That all the boys in our school
Came out to toss and play.

They tossed a ball again so high,
Then again, so low;
They tossed it into a flower garden
Where no-one was allowed to go.

Up stepped a gypsy lady,
All dressed in yellow and green;
"Come in, come in, my pretty little boy,
And get your ball again."

"I can't come in, I shan't come in
Without my playmates all;
I'll go to my father and tell him about it,
That'll cause tears to fall."

She first showed him an apple seed,
Then again gold rings,
Then she showed him a diamond,
That enticed him in.

She took him by his lily-white hand,
She led him through the hall;
She put him in an upper room,
Where no-one could hear him call.

"Oh, take these finger rings off my finger,
Smoke them with your breath;
If any of my friends should call for me,
Tell them that I'm at rest."

"Bury the bible at my head,
A testament at my feet;
If my dear mother should call for me,
Tell her that I'm asleep."

"Bury the bible at my feet,
A testament at my head;
If my dear father should call for me,
Tell him that I am dead."

Notes

A.L. Lloyd reports, "In 1225 [others say 1255 -- which tells you something about how much of a historical basis all this has - RBW], in Lincoln, England, a boy named Hugh was supposed to have been tortured and murdered by Jews. A pogrom ensued." - PJS

The legend of Hugh of Lincoln became popular in many forms of literature; Benet's _Reader's Encyclopedia_ (which uses the 1255 date) lists Chaucer's "Prioress's Tale," Marlowe's _The Jew of Malta_, and a 1459 piece called _Alphonsus of Lincoln_, which I have not seen.

The link to "The Prioress's Tale" is undeniable, since lines 684-686 (Riverside edition) explicitly compares the tale to that of "yonge Hugh of Lyncoln, slayn also With cursed Jewes, as it is notable, For it is but a litel while ago." I personally don't see much connection, except thematic, to _The Jew of Malta_. - RBW

Cross references

cf. "The Twa Brothers" [Child 49] (lyrics)

Recordings

Cecilia Costello, "The Jew's Daughter (Sir Hugh)" (on FSB5 [as "The Jew's Garden"], FSBBAL2) {Bronson's #55}
[Mrs.?] Ollie Gilbert, "It Rained a Mist" (on LomaxCD1707) {Bronson's #35}
Nelstone's Hawaiians, "Fatal Flower Garden" (Victor 40193, 1929; on AAFM1) {Bronson's #12}

References

Child 155, "Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter" (21 texts)
Bronson 155, "Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter" (66 versions)
Percy/Wheatley I, pp. 54-60, "The Jew's Daughter" (1 text)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 461-462, "Sir Hugh, or The Jew's Daughter" (notes plus an excerpt from Child A)
Belden, pp. 69-73, "Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter" (2 texts plus a fragment)
Randolph 25, "The Jew's Garden" (3 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune) {Bronson's #38}
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 47-49, "The Jew's Garden" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 25A) {Bronson's #38}
Eddy 20, "Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #48}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 30-32, "Little Harry Huston" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #66}
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 119-126, "Sir Hugh, or The Jew's Daughter" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {A=Bronson's #66; B=#65 with verbal variants}
Davis-Ballads 33, "Sir Hugh, or The Jew's Daughter" (13 texts, 7 tunes entitled "The Jew's Daughter," "It Rained a Mist," "A Little Boy Threw His Ball So High," "Sir Hugh, or Little Harry Hughes," Sir Hugh"; 3 more versions mentioned in Appendix A) {Bronson's #39, #54, #3, #34, #6, #47, #53}
Davis-More 30, pp. 229-238, "Sir Hugh, or The Jew's Daughter" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
BrownII 34, "Sir Hugh; or, The Jew's Daughter" (4 texts)
Hudson 19, pp. 116-117, "Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter" (1 short text, lacking the actual murder)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 171-175, "Sir Hugh, or The Jew's Daughter" (3 texts, the first also in Davis, with local titles "A Little Boy Threw His Ball So High," "Little Sir Hugh," "Hugh of Lincoln"; 1 tune on p. 403) {Bronson's #3}
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 53-55, "A Little Boy Threw His Ball" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3}
Brewster 18, "Sir Hugh" (3 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #44}
Leach, pp. 425-431, "Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter" (4 texts)
Creighton-NovaScotia 8, "Sir Hugh; or The Jew's Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #2}
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 147-149, "Sonny Hugh" (1 text, 1 tune)
Friedman, p. 62, "Sir Hugh (The Jew's Daughter)" (3 texts)
OBB 79, "Hugh of Lincoln and The Jew's Daughter" (1 text)
SharpAp 31, "Sir Hugh" (7 texts plus 3 fragments, of which "I" in particular might be something else, 10 tunes){Bronson's #22, #20, #21, #23, #15, #10a, #16, #14, #8, #17}
Sharp-100E 8, "Little Sir Hugh" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 273, "The Queen's Garden" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gummere, pp. 164-166+336, "Sir Hugh" (1 text)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 20, "Little Son Hugh (Sir Hugh)" (1 slightly edited text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #10}
Hodgart, p. 70, "Sir Hugh (The Jew's Daughter)" (1 text)
DBuchan 22, "Sir Hugh" (1 text)
JHCox 19, "Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter" (6 texts plus mentions of 8 more)
MacSeegTrav 14, "Sir Hugh" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 81-83, "Hugh of Lincoln" (1 text)
LPound-ABS, 5, pp. 13-14, "The Jewish Lady"; p. 15, "The Jew Lady" (2 texts)
Darling-NAS, pp. 36-40, "Sir Hugh, or the Jew's Daughter"; "The Fatal Flower Garden"; "It Rained a Mist" (3 texts)
DT 155, SIRHUGH* SIRHUGH1* SIRHUGH2* SIRHUGH3
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #420, "Sir Hugh, or The Jew's Daughter" (1 text)
ST C155 (Full)
Roud #73
BI, C155