The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #66152   Message #1319009
Posted By: Malcolm Douglas
06-Nov-04 - 03:37 PM
Thread Name: Riddle Song - bird without a gall?
Subject: RE: Riddle Song - bird without a gall?
The Hammond brothers got a set, I will Give my Love an Apple, from Mr J Burrows at Sherborne, Dorset, in July 1906 (Journal of the Folk Song Society, III (11) 1907, 114-115, which includes the "cherry" verses. Bronson also quotes a Scottish MS example (one verse only). Generally, it seems that versions beginning with the cherry verses are American, though of course the cherry conceit goes all the way back to the earliest known (15th century) example.