What the Old Cock Robin Said

DESCRIPTION: "I took a walk one sunny day" and heard the birds singing. The oldest of a flock of robins declares honesty best and describes the Saint John (New Brunswick) jail and the difficult conditions there. Then all the birds fly away
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Eckstorm/Smyth-MinstrelsyOfMaine, although they appear to say it was found in manuscript in 1901-1902)
KEYWORDS: bird prison
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Eckstorm/Smyth-MinstrelsyOfMaine, pp. 90-94, "What the Old Cock Robin Said" (1 text, slightly reconstructed)
NOTES [96 words]: Despite being printed in Eckstorm/Smyth-MinstrelsyOfMaine, there is no hint (as they admit) that it was traditional. It is interesting to see a modern try to construct a bird fable -- but it's also an oddity. One has to suspect a European inspiration, since it talks about the cock robin -- it's barely possible to tell male from female American robins (they have slightly different head feathers), but people don't normally go noticing the difference. So someone who knew nothing about birds took a European bird character and told a Canadian story about it. Strange indeed. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.2
File: EcSm090

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