Pickled Jew, The

DESCRIPTION: "Two middle-age brothers in New York once dwelt"; the two were Jewish merchants. One dies and leaves his property to his brother if he will bury him in England. The brother ships it to England as salt pork. The crew, in distress, unknowingly eats it
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin); before 1863 (broadside, Bodleian Bod10069 Firth c.20(132))
LONG DESCRIPTION: Isaac and Moses are rich merchants in New York. Moses dies and his will leaves all his goods to Isaac if he is buried in "old English soil." No captain will carry the body of a Jew, so Isaac cuts and pickles the body and says it is a barrel of pork. The ship is becalmed and, provisions being short, they eat the "pork." Isaac explains that they have eaten his brother. The captain offers to pay for the body as if it were pork. Isaac feels he can't accept money for -- that is, sell -- his brother but accepts the payment as if for the barrel and brine.
KEYWORDS: Jew cannibalism sailor disaster humorous greed trick burial corpse death commerce sea ship food starvation America England humorous animal brother
FOUND IN: US(MW) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin, pp. 290-291, "The Pickled Jew" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, PCKLDJEW
ADDITIONAL: John Ashton, Modern Street Ballads (London: Chatto & Windus, 1888 ("Digitized by Internet Archive")), pp. 170-172, "The Barrel of Pork" ("Two Israelite brothers in New York once dwelt") (1 text)
Roud #15684 and 15912
RECORDINGS:
Paddy Duggan, "Barrel of Pork" (on MUNFLA-Leach)
Bob Walker, "The Pickled Jew" (AFS 3290 B1, 1941)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Bod10069 Firth c.20(132), "The Barrel of Pork" ("Two Israelite brothers in New York once dwelt"), H. Such (London), 1849-1862; also Bod4175 Firth b.27(107), "The Barrel of Pork"
NOTES [46 words]: Roud files the versions of this called "The Pickled Jew" as #15684; those labelled "Barrel of Pork" as #15912, but they have so much in common that I have concluded that they are one song. The long description is of a "Barrel of Pork" text, the short, of "The Pickled Jew." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: Pet290

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