Boatsman and the Chest, The [Laws Q8]

DESCRIPTION: The boatsman's wife is being visited by the tailor when he comes home unexpectedly. The tailor hides in a chest. Knowing its contents, the husband deliberately takes the chest back to his ship. He tells the tailor he abducted him to keep him from his wife
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (Reeves/Sharp-TheIdiomOfThePeople)
KEYWORDS: infidelity punishment hiding abduction
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,Ro,SE) Canada(Newf) Britain(England,Scotland(Aber)) Ireland
REFERENCES (20 citations):
Laws Q8, "The Boatsman and the Chest"
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "BOATSWAIN AND THE TAILOR, THE"
Greig/Duncan7 1432, Greig/Duncan8 Addenda, "The Devil in the Kist" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 46, "Jolly Boatman" (1 text)
Cox/Hercog/Halpert/Boswell-WVirginia-A, #23, pp. 91-93, "The Wealthy Merchant" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 138, "The Jolly Boatswain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland 53, "The Boatswain and the Tailor" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 306-311, "The Old Bo's'n" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H604, pp. 505-506, "The Tailor in the Tea [Sea] Chest" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell-FolkSongsOfRoanokeAndTheAlbermarle 52, "The Boatswain and the Chest" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #198. "The Boatsman and the Chest" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 52, "The Boatsman and the Chest" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #123, "A Tailor in the Chest" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors, pp. 170-171, "The Tailor and the Chest" (1 text, 1 tune)
Reeves/Sharp-TheIdiomOfThePeople 16, "The Boatsman and the Tailor" (1 text)
Gilbert-LostChords, pp. 26-27, "The Sailor and the Tailor" (1 text)
Johnson-BawdyBalladsAndLustyLyrics, pp.71-73, "The Boatswain and the Tailor" (1 text)
DT 346, BOATTAIL TRPRTAIL*
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 38, #3 (1993-1994), p, 70, "The Charleston Merchant" (1 text, 1 tune, apparently from Sam Hinton)
[no author listed], Scenes & Songs of the Ohio-Erie Canal, Ohio Historical Society, 1971, "The Clever Skipper" (1 text, 1 tune, from Pearl R. Nye)
Roud #570
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Will the Weaver" [Laws Q9] (plot)
cf. "The Major and the Weaver" [Laws Q10] (plot)
cf. "The Dog in the Closet (The Old Dyer)" [Laws Q11] (plot)
cf. "The Trooper and the Tailor" (plot)
cf. "The Little Cobbler" (plot)
cf. "The Greasy Cook (Butter and Cheese and All, The Cook's Choice)" (plot)
cf. "Murphy in the Cupboard" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Randy Tailor
The Tailor and the Kist
NOTES [57 words]: In one version, the husband ships the chest (and the tailor) off to China. - PJS
This and similar songs are sometimes traced back to a story in Boccaccio (seventh day, second story: Gianella, Peronella, and her husband). But the story is really one of the basic themes of folktale, and doubtless predates Boccaccio as well as these songs. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: LQ08

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