Faithless Widow (II), The

DESCRIPTION: A dog loyal to her dead husband keeps a widow's courters away. She throws the dog in the river but it swims back. She burns the dog to ashes but the ashes attack the men. Finally she throws the ashes in the river and marries the next man at her door.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1918 (Parsons)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage death dog husband wife
FOUND IN: West Indies(Bahamas)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Elsie Clews Parsons, Folk-Tales of Andros Island Bahamas (Lancaster: American Folk-Lore Society, 1918 ("Digitized by Internet Archive")), #114(II), pp. 165-166, "The Faithless Widow (II)" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES [46 words]: The verse sung by each man coming to court the widow is "Miss Angeo, Miss Angeo, Please to hol' de dawg, Jim Tarro" (the dog is named Jim Tarro). Compare this with the lines from the Jamaican song, "If I Went Up To the Hill-Top": "Den madame, madame, come an' hol' dat dog." - BS
Last updated in version 3.8
File: ElCPFaW2

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