For Frank ITS:

Captain Kendall Morse tells that same water-fetching story, but it's a city dude in a hunting party in Maine, and the beast in the spring is a bear.

Does your "Palatka Pete" have any particular regional folkloric significance? I lived in Palatka, Florida, for about four years when I was a kid. Went to elementary school there, in fact. Learned a lot of old songs from my second grade teacher, Pansy Pickren. My father was charting the St. Johns River for the Coast and Geodetic Survey at the time. Population was less than 7000 back then. First time I've seen a mention of Palatka in about sixty years!

And for Catspaw: My mother recited the "barefoot boy with shoes on," too. She hailed from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, circa 1910. Must have been a pretty popular recitation.

Sandy