| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
226 Indiana University Publications, Folklore Series
42 THE FROG WENT A-COURTING
As Professor Hyder E. Rollins has shown in his Analytical Index to the Ballad Entries in the Register of the London Company of Stationers, this interesting old song was registered on November 21, 1580, under the title "A Moste Strange Weddinge of the Frogge and the Mouse." Further particulars regarding its antiquity and history have been given by Professor Kittredge (Journal, XXXV, 394 i).
Eleven texts and two melodies have been recovered in this state.
For other texts and airs, see Campbell and Sharp, II, 312; Cox, p. 65; Flanders and Brown, p. 122; Greenleaf and Mansfield, p. 90; Hudson, Folksongs, p. 282; Journal, XXVI, 134; XXXII, 399; XXXIII, 98; XXXV, 394; XXXIX, 166; XLII, 298; Lomax, American Ballads and Folk-Songs, p. 310; Mackenzie, Ballads, p. 373; Odum and Johnson, Negro Workaday Songs, p. 187; FTFLS, V, 5 1; Richardson, p. 78; Scarborough, pp. 46, 49; Scarborough, Song Catcher, p. 245; Sharp, Nursery Songs from the Appalachian Mountains, No. 1; Shoemaker, p. 268; Talley, Negro Folk Rhymes, pp. 167, 190; Thomas, p. 154; White, American Negro Folk Songs, p. 218; Wyman and Brockway, p. 86; Creighton, Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia, p. 194; Gordon, Folk-Songs of America^ pp. 86-88,
British: Chappell, Old English Popular Music, pp. 142-43.
A
"The Frog He Went A-Courting." Contributed by Mrs. Nancy E. Brewster, of Oakland City, Indiana. Gibson County. Learned in Pike County. August 3,1935.
1. Mr. Frog went a-courting, he did ride;
Uh-huh; Mr. Frog went a-courting, he did ride, Sword and pistol by his side,
Uh-huh.
*
2. Mr. Frog went a-courting in his ruffled shirt,
Uh-huh; Mr. Frog went a-courting in his ruffled shirt; He kicked Mr. Jaybird down in the dirt,
Uh-huh. |
||