Slippy Stane, The

DESCRIPTION: "There's aye a muckle slippery stane at ilka body's door." If your neighbor slips "lend a hand to lift him up"; you may find yourself in his condition some day. "Kings and emperors hae fallen"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (Greig/Duncan3)
KEYWORDS: virtue nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #111, p. 2, "The Slippery Stane"; #121, p. 2, "The Slippery Stane" (1 text plus 1 fragment)
Greig/Duncan3 666, "The Slippy Stane" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #6092
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, RB.m.143(125, "The Slippy Stane" ("Wade canny through this weary world"), Poet's Box (Dundee), c.1890
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Laddie Wi' the Tarry Trews" (tune, per Greig/Duncan3)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Slippery Stane
NOTES [65 words]: Greig has Hamilton Nimmo (1836-1892) as the author. On the other hand, Greig/Duncan3 cites National Choir 1.339: "The song is said there to be by James Hendrie and to have been first published in The People's Friend in 1875." - BS
In either case, it sounds to me as if it might have been inspired by a meditation on Ecclesiastes 11:1-6, with perhaps a little of Luke 14:7-14 thrown in. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.6
File: GrD3666

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