Half-Hitch, The [Laws N23]

DESCRIPTION: A girl pretends to refuse her fiance. Finally he gives up, promising to marry the first girl he sees. She disguises herself as the ugliest woman possible and makes sure he sees her. He asks her to marry; she consents. She reveals herself after they wed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1919 (Sturgis and Hughes)
KEYWORDS: courting disguise trick marriage
FOUND IN: US(MA,NE,Ro)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Bronson (31), 1 version
Laws N23, "The Half-Hitch"
Barry/Eckstorm/Smyth-BritishBalladsFromMaine pp. 382-389, "The Loathly Bride" (1 text plus a version reprinted from Sturgis)
Flanders/Brown-VermontFolkSongsAndBallads, pp. 236-239, "The Half-Hitch" (1 text)
Flanders/Olney-BalladsMigrantInNewEngland, pp. 33-37, "The Half-Hitch" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's (#1) in the appendix to #31}
Flanders-AncientBalladsTraditionallySungInNewEngland1, pp. 265-275, "The Half-Hitch" (2 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune) {Bronson's (#1) in the appendix to #31}
Sturgis/Hughes-SongsFromTheHillsOfVermont, pp. 58-65, "The Half-Hitch" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thompson-BodyBootsAndBritches-NewYorkStateFolktales, pp. 417-421, "The Half-Hitch" (1 text)
Cheney-MormonSongs, pp. 19-22, "The Old Shoe" (1 text)
DT 453, HALFHITC
Roud #1887
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Marriage of Sir Gawain" [Child 31]
NOTES [159 words]: This text is associated by some editors (e.g. notably Flanders) with Child 31, "The Marriage of Sir Gawain." It should be noted, however, that the only themes the two have in common are a marriage made for honour rather than love and an ugly woman who turns out to be beautiful (themes also found in "King Henry," Child 32). It isn't even really a Loathly Lady tale; it's just a matter of disguise, and the unattractive woman, unlike the usual Loathly Lady, has no particular skill or power.
The title "Half-Hitch" may possibly be significant. "Hitch" is a technical term, for sailors, for a way of tying a rope firmly to another object. (This by contrast to "a knot," which is a permanent attachment, and a "bend," which generally ties two ropes together). The "half-hitch" is "the basis and simplest of all hitches" (Grant Uden and Richard Cooper, A Dictionary of British Ships and Seamen, 1980 (I use the 1981 St. Martin's Press edition), p. 251). - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: LN23

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