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28o JENNY JONES
are the usual forms for the later verses, but illness and dying are lost in several versions. The choosing of colours is in some versions not for the mourners but for the dead maiden, and in these cases (six) white is the colour chosen, for " white's what the dead wear."
This question of colours for the dead is a very important one. The dressing of the dead body of a maiden in white by her girl companions, and the carrying of the body by them to the grave, are known village customs, the whole village being invited to the funeral. The rising of the dead lover, and the belief that excessive mourning over a loved one disturbs his or her rest in the grave, thus causing the dead to rise and speak, are shown in old ballads; the belief that spirits of the dead haunt churchyards and places of their former abode may also be adduced in illustration of the ghost incident.
(d) The methods of playing, and the incidents revealed by the verses sung, show that this is perhaps the most realistic of all the singing games, the daily occupation, the illness, death, and burial being portrayed, first, in the words of the rhymes, and secondly, by the accompanying action. The Scottish versions make the opening incident that of a lover coming to the house of the loved one, then proceed to the domestic occupation, and finally to the death incident; while the English versions give the idea of village friends calling upon a favourite companion, and subsequently attending her funeral. That the former is the older of the two versions is confirmed by the great probability of the name " Jenny Jones " being a degraded form of " Janet jo." There is some evidence for this. The Sporle version gives it as "Jenny Joe," which is clearly a misunderstood rendering of " Jenny jo. ' The corruption of this into "Jenny Jones" is exactly what might be expected from modern English ignorance of the pretty meaning of the word jo, "dear;" and to what lengths this corruption may proceed under such influences may be seen by versions from Earls Heaton, where we have " Jingy Jog; " Leeds, where we get " Jilly Jog;" and the Edinburgh version, where we have " Georgina."
This would be an argument for the Scottish home of the |
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