Jumbo Said to Alice

DESCRIPTION: "Jumbo said to Alice, 'I love you.' Alice said to Jumbo, 'I don’t believe you do. For if you truly love as you say you do, You wouldn’t go to America and leave me in the zoo.'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: love animal rejection separation | elephant zoo
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1882 - the London Zoo sells its elephant named "Jumbo" to P. T. Barnum
1885 - death of Jumbo as a result of a railroad accident. It was estimated that he was 24
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 99, "Jumbo said to Alice, 'I love you'" (1 text)
Roud #25381
NOTES [66 words]: Yes, the elephant in this song is apparently real -- in fact, Wikipedia has an article on Jumbo.
This little item was quoted in Life magazine in the August 20, 1956, issue, but the copy I saw was not readable enough for me to examine the context. It had only the one verse quoted by Alice Kane, however. The same was true of every other copy I found on the web, and none listed an author. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: KSUC099C

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