Deaf Woman's Courtship, The

DESCRIPTION: An old man comes to an old woman and asks her is she will (mend his jacket). She says she cannot hear him. He asks about other mundane tasks. She still can't hear him. He asks her to marry. She says, "I hear you now quite clearly"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1776 (Herd MS.)
KEYWORDS: age courting humorous questions
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So) Britain(England,Scotland) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (23 citations):
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, p. 265, "Hard of Hearing" (1 text)
Randolph 353, "Old Woman, Old Woman" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 136, "Old Woman, Old Woman" (1 text)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 187, "Hard of Hearing" (1 text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 187, "Hard of Hearing" (2 excerpts, 2 tunes)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 105, "The Deaf Woman's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 178, "The Deaf Woman's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-EightyEnglishFolkSongs 54, "Old Woman (The Deaf Woman's Courtship)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolfe/Boswell-FolkSongsOfMiddleTennessee 78, pp. 128-129, "Old Woman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior-TraditionalSongsOfNovaScotia, pp. 243-244, "The Deaf Woman's Courtship" (1 text plus 1 fragment)
Pottie/Ellis-FolksongsOfTheMaritimes, pp. 10-11, "The Deaf Woman's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 535, "Old woman, old woman, shall we go a-shearing?" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #94, p. 89, "(Old woman, old woman, shall we go a-shearing?)"
Montgomerie/Montgomerie-ScottishNurseryRhymes 168, "(Old wife, old wife)" (1 short text)
Chase-AmericanFolkTalesAndSongs, pp. 136-137, "The Deaf Woman's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, pp. 237, 417, "Deaf Woman's Courtship" (notes only)
Tobitt-TheDittyBag, p. 119, "The Deaf Woman's Courtship (1 text, 1 tune)
Tobitt-YoursForASong, p. 7, "The Deaf Woman's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
SongsOfAllTime, p. 72, "Deaf Woman's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
GirlScout-PocketSongbook, p. 19, "The Deaf Woman's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
48MuchLovedFolkSongs, p. 8, "Speak Louder" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DEAFWOMN*
ADDITIONAL: Roger deV. Renwick, _Recentering Anglo/American Folksong: Sea Crabs and Wicked Youths_, University Press of Mississippi, 2001, p.74, "Hard of Hearing" (1 text)
Roud #467
RECORDINGS:
Roxana Robinson, "Deaf Woman's Courtship" (Piotr-Archive #697, recorded 10/01/2023)
File: R353

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