Friar in the Well, The [Child 276]

DESCRIPTION: A friar solicits a girl; she is afraid of hell. The friar points out that he can pray her out. That promise, plus cash in advance, wins her consent, but she -- claiming her father is coming -- causes him to fall into a well, dampening his ardor
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1719 (Pills; tune in "The Dancing Master," 1651); a song "Fryer in the Well" was in William Thackeray's broadside catalog by 1690
KEYWORDS: humorous trick
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Child 276, "The Friar in the Well" (2 texts)
Bronson 276, "The Friar in the Well" (3 versions)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads 276, "The Friar in the Well" (2 versions: #1, #2)
Chappell-PopularMusicOfTheOldenTime, pp. 273-275, "The Friar in the Well" (1 text, slightly expurgated, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Chappell/Wooldridge-OldEnglishPopularMusic I, pp. 296-297, "The Maid Peeped out at the Window, or, The Friar in the Well" (1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Kinloch-TheBalladBook VII, pp. 24-29, "The Friar" (1 text)
Olson-BroadsideBalladIndex, ZN219, "As I lay musing all alone"
DT 276, FRIARWEL* FRIARWL2*
Roud #116
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "The Parson and the Maid" (on Lloyd12)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Harry the Tailor" (plot)
File: C276

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