Wee Tailor from Tyrone, The

DESCRIPTION: Mollie agrees to marry a tailor. She becomes a lady's waiting maid. The tailor accepts the lady's[?] offer of marriage, money, and gentleman's life. The marriage, in the dark, is a sham. When the light is on he sees "the lady" is Mollie. She rejects him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973 (Morton/Maguire-ComeDayGoDayGodSendSunday)
LONG DESCRIPTION: A tailor courts Mollie and she agrees to marry him. She becomes a lady's waiting maid. The tailor receives a letter, supposedly from the lady, offering her own hand and ten thousand pounds. He'd rather be a gentleman than an apprentice so he agrees. She insists the marriage be held in the dark. The marriage is a sham. When the light is on he sees "the lady" is Mollie. She rejects him: "Ah but you thought you were a gentleman, and now you see you're none"
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity wedding rejection trick humorous money
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Morton/Maguire-ComeDayGoDayGodSendSunday 34, pp. 87-89,120,169, "The Wee Tailor from Tyrone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2488
NOTES [71 words]: An interesting twist on the Eros and Psyche legend, isn't it?
The same trick also occurs in the Bible, in Genesis 29, where Jacob thinks he is marrying Rachel, but her father instead slips in Rachel's older sister Leah. The difference being that the customs of the time allowed polygamy, so Jacob eventually had both of them. For full notes on the idea of the wrong woman in a bed, see the notes to "The Butcher's Daughter." - RBW
Last updated in version 5.2
File: MoMa034

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