Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes Part 19

With arrows and bows, _etc._

V

O, how will you bring her home....

On four strong men's shoulders, _etc._

VI

O, that will not do ...

In waggons and carts, _etc._

VII

O, what will you cut her up with?...

With knives and forks, _etc._

VIII

O, that will not do ...

With hatchets and cleavers, _etc._

IX

O, how will you boil her?...

In kettles and pots, _etc._

X

O, that will not do ...

In cauldrons and pans, _etc._

XI

O, who'll have the spare ribs, says Milder to Malder, O, I cannot tell, says Festel to Fose, We'll give them to the poor, says John the Red Nose, We'll give them to the poor, says John the Red Nose.

Further variations of the chant have been recovered from the Isle of Man and from Ireland, where the hunt is kept up to this day. In the Isle of Man it used to take place on 24 December, though afterwards on St.

Stephen's Day, that is 27 December, which according to the old reckoning was the beginning of the New Year.[66] On this day people left the church at midnight and then engaged in hunting the wren. When the bird was secured, it was fastened to a long pole with its wings extended, and it was carried about in procession to the singing of the chant:--

We hunted the wren for Robin the Bobbin.

[66] Waldron, _Description of the Isle of Man_, reprint 1865, p. 49; also Train, T., _History of the Isle of Man_, 1845, II, 126.

This chant further describes that the bird was hunted with sticks and stones, a cart was hired, he was brought home, he was boiled in the brewery-pan, he was eaten with knives and forks, the king and the queen dined at the feast, and the pluck went to the poor.

The behaviour of the huntsmen was not, however, in keeping with these words; for the bearers of the wren, after making the circuit, laid it on a bier and carried it to the parish churchyard, where it was buried with the utmost solemnity, and dirges were sung over it in the Manx language, which were called the knell of the wren. The company then formed a circle outside the churchyard and danced to music.

In the middle of the nineteenth century the wren was still hunted in the Isle of Man and was carried by boys from door to door, suspended by the legs in the centre of two hoops. These crossed each other at right angles and were decorated with evergreens and ribbons. The boys recited the chant. In return for a coin they gave a feather of the wren, so that before the end of the day the bird hung featherless. A superst.i.tious value was attached to these feathers, for the possession of one of them was considered an effective preservative from s.h.i.+pwreck during the coming year among the sailors. At this time the bird was no longer buried in the churchyard, but on the seash.o.r.e or in some waste place.

The hunt in the Isle of Man was accounted for by the legend that in former times a fairy of uncommon beauty exerted such influence over the male population of the island that she induced them by her sweet voice to follow her footsteps, till by degrees she led them into the sea, where they perished. At last a knight-errant sprang up, who laid a plot for her destruction, which she escaped at the last moment by taking the form of a wren. But a spell was cast upon her by which she was condemned on every succeeding New Year's Day to reanimate the same form, with the definite sentence that she must ultimately perish by human hand. In this form the legend is told by Train. Waldron relates the same story, which explained why the female s.e.x are now held of little account in the island, but the fairy according to him was transformed into a bat.

In Ireland also the wren was generally hunted during the eighteenth century, and continues to be hunted in Leinster and in Connaught, but I have come across no chant of the hunt. The bird was slain by the peasants, and was carried about hung by the leg inside two crossed hoops, and a custom rhyme was sung which began:--

The wren, the wren, the king of all birds, Was caught St. Stephen's Day in the furze; Although he's little, his family's great, Then pray, gentlefolks, give him a treat. (1849, p. 166.)

The bird was slain, but it was not therefore dead. This is conveyed by the tale told in the Isle of Man, and by the following custom observed in Pembrokes.h.i.+re on 6 January, that is on Twelfth Day. On this day one or several wrens were secured in a small house or cage, sometimes the stable lantern, which was decorated with ribbons and carried from house to house while the following lines were sung:--

Joy, health, love, and peace, Be to you in this place.

By your leave we will sing Concerning _our king_: Our king is well drest, In silks of the best, With his ribbons so rare No king can compare.

_In his coach he does ride_ With a great deal of pride And with _four footmen_ To wait upon him.

We were four at watch, And all nigh of a match; And with powder and ball We fired at his hall.

We have travell'd many miles, Over hedges and stiles, To find you this king Which we now to you bring.

Now Christmas is past, Twelfth Day is the last.

Th' Old Year bids adieu; Great joy to the new. (1876, p. 35.)

On grouping together these various pieces, we are struck by their likeness, and by the antiquity of their allusions. The bird was usually slain with stones and sticks, which are among the most primitive weapons. In Wales _bows and arrows_, which are old also, were declared preferable to _cannons and guns_. In Wales the bird was cut up with _hatchets and cleavers_ in preference to _knives and forks_; it was boiled in the _brewery pan_, or in _cauldrons and pans_, in preference to _kettles and pots_; and it was conveyed about in a _waggon or cart_ in preference to being _carried on four men's shoulders_. Sometimes the bird was plucked. Finally it was cut up in a sacrificial manner; one wing--another--one leg--another--and the spare ribs or the pluck, as the least valuable part of the feast, went to the poor.

The representative huntsmen in England are Robbin, Bobbin, Richard, and John-all-alone. In Scotland they are Fozie-Mozie, Johnie Rednosie, and Foslin, besides "the brethren and kin." In Wales they are Milder, Malder, Festel, Fose, and John the Rednose. Of these characters only Robin and Bobbin (the names are sometimes run together) and Richard, reappear in other nursery pieces. In the oldest collection of 1744 stand the lines:--

Robbin and Bobbin, two great belly'd men, They ate more victuals than three-score men. (1744, p. 25.)

These powers of eating perhaps refer to the first share of these characters at the feast. They are further dwelt on in the following nursery rhyme:--

Robin the Bobbin, the big-headed hen [_or_ ben]

He eat more meat than four-score men.

He eat a cow, he eat a calf, He eat a butcher and a half; He eat a church, he eat a steeple, He eat the priest and all the people. (_c._ 1783, p. 43.)

To which some collections add:--

And yet he complained that his belly was not full.

Other pieces dilate on Robin and Richard as lazy in starting, and on Robin, whose efforts as a huntsman were attended with ill luck:--

Robin and Richard were two pretty men, They lay in bed till the clock struck ten: Then up starts Robin, and looks at the sky, Oh! brother Richard, the sun's very high.

You go before, with the bottle and bag, And I will come after, on little Jack Nag. (_c._ 1783, p. 42.)

Robin-a-Bobbin bent his bow, Shot at a woodc.o.c.k and killed a yowe [ewe]; The yowe cried ba, and he ran away, And never came back till Midsummer day. (1890, p. 346.)

Halliwell saw a relation between the huntsman of this verse and the bird robin, since the robin was reckoned to disappear at Christmas and not to return till Midsummer. As a matter of fact, the robin leaves the abodes of man and retires into the woodland as soon as the sharp winter frost is over. However this may be, the presence of the wren and of the robin was mutually exclusive, as we shall see in the pieces which deal with the proposed union, the jealousy, and the death of these two birds.

CHAPTER XVI

BIRD SACRIFICE

The custom of slaying the wren is widespread in France also. But the chants that deal with it dwell, not like ours, on the actual hunt, but on the sacrificial plucking and dividing up of the bird. Moreover, the French chants depend for their consistency not on repet.i.tion like ours, but are set in c.u.mulative form. Both in contents and in form they seem to represent the same idea in a later development.