Little Boy Billee (Le Petite Navire, The Little Corvette)

DESCRIPTION: English & French versions. Three Bristol men steal a ship and go to sea. Starving, Jack & Jimmy plot to eat Billee, but he asks to say his catechism first. Before he finishes, he sights the British fleet. Jack and Jimmy are hanged, Billee made an admiral
AUTHOR: Unknown, English version possibly translated by William Thackeray
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (published by Thackeray, according to Scott); 1946 (Davenson, French version)
KEYWORDS: crime execution punishment theft rescue death ship cannibalism foreignlanguage homicide
FOUND IN: France
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 114, "Le Petit Navire [The Little Corvette]" (French version -- 1 text + translation, 1 tune)
Hugill-ShantiesFromTheSevenSeas, pp. 429-430, "Three Sailors of Bristol City" (1 text)
Hugill-SongsOfTheSea, p. 142, Un Petit' Navire" (2 texts, French & English, 1 tune)
Scott-EnglishSongBook, pp. 110-111, "Little Billee and Guzzling Jack and Gorging Jimmy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #905
RECORDINGS:
Bob Roberts, "Little Boy Billee" (on LastDays)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ship in Distress" (plot) and references there
NOTES [125 words]: The song was apparently widespread among French sailors. The English version, possibly translated by Thackeray, seems almost a burlesque. And the similarities to "The Ship in Distress" are so acute that I suspect the songs are related. - PJS
To me, the question is more of the relations between Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland's various texts in multiple languages. If two songs have the same plot, and there is a version in another language with the same plot, how do you tell which song it belongs with? Hugill's translation of the French "La Petite Navire" has no mention of Bristol, and lacks the ending about the boy and his prayers. It's not the same as his "Three Sailors of Bristol City." If it weren't for Kennedy, I'd split them. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: K114

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