Sow Took the Measles, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer founds his property on a sow. When the sow takes the measles and dies, he makes a saddle of her hide, a thimble of her nose, a whip of her tail, pickles and/or glue of her feet, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Fuson-BalladsOfTheKentuckyHighlands)
KEYWORDS: animal talltale technology disease
FOUND IN: US(Ap,NE,So,SE) Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Gardham-EastRidingSongster 3, pp. 7, 42-43, "The Herring's Head"; "Bolliton Sands"; "The Dead Pig" (3 texts, 1 tune; the first two are "The Red Herring" but 3B, "The Dead Pig," is "The Sow Took the Measles")
Randolph 412, "The Measles in the Spring" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 177, "My Old Sow's Nose" (1 text)
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 253-255, "The Old Sow Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson-BalladsOfTheKentuckyHighlands, p. 185, "The Old Sow" (1 text, in which the old sow "died in the winter last spring")
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 15, "The Sow Took the Measles" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 405, "The Sow Took The Measles" (1 text)
DT, SOWMEASL*
Roud #17759
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Red Herring" (theme)
cf. "Old Cow Died of Whooping Cough" (theme of animal disease) and references there
NOTES [33 words]: The disease the sow took is unlikely to have been measles; it is more likely that it was rinderpest, which is closely related. For more on this, see the notes to "Old Cow Died of Whooping Cough." - RBW
Last updated in version 5.2
File: LoF015

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