Mabel, Mabel

DESCRIPTION: "Mabel, Mabel, Set the table, Don't forget your Salt, vinegar, mustard, pepper." (or "salt and pepper," or "red hot pepper," etc.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1948 (NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal)
KEYWORDS: playparty food jumprope | spices table
FOUND IN: US(NE,Ro,So) New Zealand
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Sutton-Smith-NZ-GamesOfNewZealandChilden/FolkgamesOfChildren, p, 104, "(Mabel, Mabel)" (1 text)
Solomon-ZickaryZan, p. 54, "Betty, Betty"; "Mabel, Mabel" (2 fragments)
Ainsworth-JumpRopeVerses, #15, "(Mary, Mary, set the table)"; #59, "(Mabel, Mabel, set the table)"; #76, "(Mabel, Mabel, set the table)"; #94, "(Mabel, Mabel, set the table)"; #134, "(Mabel, Mabel, set the table)" (5 texts)
Delamar-ChildrensCountingOutRhymes, p. 137, "If you're able, set the table" (1 text)
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #322, "Mabel, Mabel"; #323, "Mabel, Mabel, strong and able"; #352, "Mother, Mother, I am able" (3 texts, with #352 perhaps a deliberate expansion)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, (Joan McCaskill, collector), "Rope-Skipping Games", Vol. 1, No. 1 (Jun 1948), p. 12, "(Mabel, Mabel, set the table)" (1 text)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Teri John, "A Collection of Jump Rope Rhymes," Vol. XXI, No. 1 (Apr 1973), p. 16, "*Mable, mable, set the table" (1 text)
MidwestFolklore, Vance Randolph, "Jump Rope Rhymes From Arkansas" Volume 3, Number 2 (Summer 1953), p. 79, "(Mabel, Mabel, set the table)"; p. 80, "(Mabel, Mabel, set the table)" (2 texts)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 380, "Mabel, Mabel" (notes only); cf. p. 379, "Mabel, Mabel get your elbows off the table" (1 short text)
Roud #19280
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bluebells, Cockleshells" (verse regarding vinegar, salt, mustard, pepper) and references there
NOTES [119 words]: I've never heard the "Mabel, Mabel, Set the table" lyric -- but my mother had a childhood rhyme, "Mabel, Mabel (or Robert, Robert, or whoever), Strong and able, Get your elbows Off the table." This looks like it is from the same roots as the Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs item cited here, which in turn looks like it might be derived from "Mabel, Mabel"; there is a lot of folk processing along the way, but I thought I should mention it.
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #323, is also this piece, from Texas, which is interesting, because my mother presumably learned it in Michigan. The verse, or part of it, also shows up in the "Humoresque" in Ed Cray's Erotic Muse, but the purpose of that is obviously different! - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: SuSm104A

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