Frog Went A-Courting

DESCRIPTION: Frog rides to ask Miss Mouse to marry him. She is willing but must ask permission of Uncle Rat. Rat's permission received, the two work out details of the wedding. (Some versions end with a cat or other creature devouring the participants)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: perhaps 1549 (Wedderburn's "Complaynt of Scotland"); there is a reference in the Stationer's Register of 1580 to "A Moste Strange Weddinge of the Frogge and the Mouse"; Ravenscroft's 1611 _Melismata_ has "The Marriage of the Frogge and the Movse" which is certainly this
KEYWORDS: animal courting love marriage request
FOUND IN: US(All) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England(All),Scotland(Aber)) Ireland
REFERENCES (101 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "FROG AND THE MOUSE, THE"
Leather-FolkLoreOfHerefordshire, pp. 209-210, "The Frog and the Mouse" (2 texts)
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, pp. 133-134, "Froggy Would a-Wooing Go" (2 texts) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Wt 310) [These texts are very close to the Bodleian broadside "Frog in a Cock'd Hat" texts]
Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle 46, "The Frog and Mouse" (1 text)
OShaughnessy-YellowbellyBalladsPart1 16, "Froggy Would a-Wooing Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gundry-CanowKernow-SongsDancesFromCornwall, p. 47, "The Frog and the Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud/Bishop-NewPenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs #108, "The Frog and the Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-EnglishSongBook, pp. 54-55, "A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lyle/McAlpine/McLucas-SongRepertoireOfAmeliaAndJaneHarris, p. 175, "Hech, Hey, Lowrie lay" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
OCroinin/Cronin-TheSongsOfElizabethCronin 190, "Uncle Rat" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 494-499, "The Frog's Courtship" (7 texts in 3 groups, 2 tunes; several of the texts are short, and IB at least appears to be "Kemo Kimo")
Randolph 108, "The Frog's Courtship" (5 texts plus 5 excerpts, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 139-141, "The Frog's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 108A)
Abrahams/Riddle-ASingerAndHerSongs, pp. 44-47, "Froggie Went A-Courting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnold-FolkSongsofAlabama, pp. 12-13, "Frog Went A-Courtin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 120, "The Frog's Courtship" (7 texts plus 13 excerpts, 2 fragments, and mention of 5 more; "Kemo Kimo" in appendix)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 120, "The Frog's Courtship" (11 tunes, 3 of them from the "Kemo Kimo" appendices, plus text excerpts)
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #216, "The Frog's Courtship" (7 texts, 3 tunes)
Hudson-FolksongsOfMississippi 136, pp. 282-283, "The Frog's Courting" (1 text plus mention of 9 more)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 120, "Froggy Went a-Courting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-1ed, pp. 255-256, "Frog Went A-Courting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-2ed, pp. 136-139, "Frog Went A-Courting" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Abernethy-SinginTexas, p. 19, "Froggie Went A-Courtin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolfe/Boswell-FolkSongsOfMiddleTennessee 19, pp. 34-37. "Mister Frog Went A-Courtin'" (1 very long text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-ASongCatcherInSouthernMountains, pp. 244-248, "The Frog He Went A-Courting" (3 texts, the first two, with local titles "Frog Went A-Courting" and "Frog Went Courting" and tune on p. 420, are this song; the third item, "The Gentleman Frog," is separate, probably part of the "Kemo Kimo"/"Frog in the Well" family)
Scarborough-OnTheTrailOfNegroFolkSongs, pp. 46-48, "Frog Went A-Courtin'"; p. 48, (no title); pp. 48-50, "Mister Frog) (3 texts, 1 tune)
Sulzer-TwentyFiveKentuckyFolkBallads, p. 14, "Froggie Went A-courtin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 42, "The Frog Went A-Courting" (5 texts plus an excerpt and mention of 4 more, 3 tunes -- one of them of the "Kitty Alone" type)
List-SingingAboutIt-FolkSongsInSouthernIndiana, pp. 215-216, "The Frog Went A-Courting" (1 text, 1 tune, plus a reprint from "Melismata")
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 44, "The Frog and the Mouse" (5 texts, 2 tunes)
Stout-FolkloreFromIowa 22, pp. 30-31, "The Frog and the Mouse" (1 text plus a fragment, the text being a "Frog Went A-Courting" version with a "kemo kimo" chorus, the fragment being simply a "Kemo Kimo" chorus that might be anything including this song)
Grimes-StoriesFromTheAnneGrimesCollection, p. 99, "Froggie Went A'Courting" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan 189, "The Frog's Courtship" (2 texts plus an exceprt and mention of 5 more, 3 tunes)
Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin, pp. 272-273, "Froggie Went to Take a Ride," "Froggie Would A-Wooing Go" (2 texts, 2 tunes, collectively filed as "The Frog Song")
McIntosh-FolkSongsAndSingingGamesofIllinoisOzarks, pp. 49-51, "Frog Went A-Courting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Carey-MarylandFolkLegendsAndFolkSongs, p. 113, "Froggie Went A-Courting" (1 text)
Wells-TheBalladTree, pp. 165-166, "The Frog's Wedding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #203, "The Frog in the Well" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland 40, "The First Come in it was a Rat" (1 text)
Creighton/Senior-TraditionalSongsOfNovaScotia, pp. 250-254, "The Frog and the Mouse" (3 texts plus 4 fragments, 2 tunes)
Creighton-SongsAndBalladsFromNovaScotia 89, "It Was a Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-FolksongsFromSouthernNewBrunswick 83, "The Frog and the Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 155, "A Frog He Would a Wooing Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Olney-BalladsMigrantInNewEngland, pp. 11-13, "Gentleman Froggie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 199-202, "A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 294, "The Frog and the Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig/Duncan8 1669, "Ki-Ma-Dearie" (5 texts, 5 tunes)
McNeil-SouthernFolkBalladsVol2, pp. 41-43, "Frog Went A-Courtin" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wyman/Brockway-LonesomeSongs-KentuckyMountains-Vol1, p. 25, "Frog Went A-Courting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wyman/Brockway-LonesomeSongs-KentuckyMountains-Vol2, p. 86, "The Toad's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Richardson/Spaeth-AmericanMountainSongs, pp. 78-79 "Frog Went A-Courtin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston-FolkSongsOfCanada, pp. 170-171, "A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-FolksongsFromMarthasVineyard, pp. 11-12, "(There was a frog lived in a well)" (1 text, with a complete 'Frog Went A-Courting" text but a "Kemo Kimo" chorus)
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 142, "Missie Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Newman/Devlin-NeverWithoutASong, pp. 161-162, "The Frog and the Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Korson-PennsylvaniaSongsAndLegends, pp. 461-462, "The Mouse's Courting Song" (1 text, 1 tune, in which the main characters are Mickey and Minnie Mouse, but still clearly this song)
Shoemaker-MountainMinstrelsyOfPennsylvania, pp. 268-269, "The Frog's Courting" (1 text, short enough that it could almost be "Kemo Kimo" rather than this)
Roberts-SangBranchSettlers, #97, Froggy Went A-Courtin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roberts/Agey-InThePine #46, "Froggie Went A-Courtin" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thomas-DevilsDitties, pp. 154-155, "Frog Went A-Courtin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 220, "A Frog He Went A-courting" (6 texts plus 5 fragments or exerpts, 11 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-EightyEnglishFolkSongs 75, "The Frog and the Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version)
Gentry/Smith-ASingerAmongSingers, #62, "The Frog He Would A-Wooing Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, p. 143, "Mister Frog Went A-Courting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner-FolkSongsAndBalladsOfTheEasternSeaboard, p. 47, "A Frog Went A-Courting" (1 text)
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, pp. 339-341, "The Mouse's Courting Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dunson/Raim/Asch-AnthologyOfAmericanFolkMusic, p. 32 "King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 310-313, "Frog Went A-Courtin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-TreasuryOfNewEnglandFolklore, pp. 571-572, "The Frog in the Spring" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-TreasuryOfSouthernFolklore, p. 722, "Frog Went A-Courting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Seeger-AmericanFavoriteBallads, p. 56, "Froggie Went A-Courtin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, pp. 48-49, "Froggie Went A-Courting" (1 text)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 162, "The Frog and the Mouse" (3 texts plus mention of two more including some excerpts, 1 tune)
Cox/Hercog/Halpert/Boswell-WVirginia-B, #22A-E, pp. 174-182, "Mr. Mouse Went A-Courting," "The Frog and the Mouse," "Frog Went A-Courting," "A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 5 tunes)
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol3, pp. 74-75, "Froggie"; pp. 76-77, "Froggy Went a-Courtin'" (2 texts, 2 tunes; the third text, p. 78, "There Was a Toad," is more "Kemo Kimo" than "Frog Went A-Courting")
Gainer-FolkSongsFromTheWestVirginiaHills, pp. 162-163, "Mr. Frog Went A-Courtin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Boette-SingaHipsyDoodle, pp. 91-93, "A Frog A-Courting"; "Frog He Would A-Wooing Go" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Coleman/Bregman-SongsOfAmericanFolks, pp. 20-22, "The Frog and the Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune, apparently from Cox)
Leach-HeritageBookOfBallads, pp. 179-180, "Mr. Frog Went A-Courting" (1 text, 1 tune on p. 207)
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 175, "A frog he would a-wooing go" (3 texts)
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #69, pp. 77-79, "(There was a frog liv'd in a well)" (a complex composite with a short version of "Frog Went A-Courting" plus enough auxiliary verses to make an almost complete "Kemo Kimo" text)
Montgomerie/Montgomerie-ScottishNurseryRhymes 193, "(There dwelt a puddy in a well)" (1 text, very long, containing a full "Frog Went A-Courting" version plus sundry "Kemo Kimo" type verses)
Chappell-PopularMusicOfTheOldenTime, p. 88, "The Marriage of the Frog and the Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell/Wooldridge-OldEnglishPopularMusic I, pp. 142-143, "The Wedding of the Frog and Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Jack-PopGoesTheWeasel, p. 40, "A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go" (1 text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 403, "Frog Went A-Courtin'" (1 text)
Olson-BroadsideBalladIndex, ZN3249, "It was a frog in a well"
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Julia Arrants, "In Search of the Frog's Raccoon," Vol. XLVIII, No. 1-2 (2001), pp. 69-70, 75-"(no collective title)" (1 core text plus 11 fragments and excerpts, the main text beginning "A frog went a-courtin', he did ride A coon, a coon")
MidwestFolklore, Ivan H. Watson, "Folk Singing on Beaver Island," Volume 2, Number 4 (Winter 1952), p. 248, "The Frog That Went A'Courtin" (reference only)
MidwestFolklore, Richard M. Dorson, "Negro Tales of Mary Richardson," Volume 6, Number 1 (Spring 1956), pp. 24-25, "The Frog Went Courting" (1 text)
MidwestFolklore, Jean B. Sanders, "The Ballads as a Source of Nursery Rhymes," Volume 8, Number 4 (Winter 1958) p. 193-195, "(no title)" (4 fragments)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, pp. 150, 231, "Frog Went a-Courtin'" (notes only)
SongsOfAllTime, p. 76, "Frog Went A-courting" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 306, FRGCORT2* PUDDYWL2
ADDITIONAL: (no author listed), _Selections from the Works of Thomas Ravenscroft; A Musical Composer of the Time of King James the First_, Roxburgh Club, 1822, (available on Google Books) No. XVII/p. 16, "The Marriage of the Frog and the Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II, p. 194 (1931), "A Frog Went Courting" (1 text)
Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 55-57, "The Frog and Mouse" (2 texts)
Robert Chambers (Edited by Norah and William Montgomerie), Traditional Scottish Nursery Rhymes (1990 selected from Popular Rhymes) #237, pp. 138-142, "Puddy He'd a-Wooin Ride"
Leslie Shepard, _The Broadside Ballad_, Legacy Books, 1962, 1978, p. 174, "The Frog and Mouse" (reproduction of a broadside (?) page with a tune)
Katherine Briggs, _A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language_, Part A: Folk Narratives, 1970 (I use the 1971 Routledge paperback that combines volumes A.1 and A.2), volume A.2, pp. 556-557, "Puddock, Mousie, and Ratton" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Iona Opie, _Ditties for the Nursery_, Oxford University Press, 1954, 1959 (new edition of "Original Ditties for the Nursery," c. 1805), p. 80, "'Squire Frog's Visit" (1 text, perhaps a rewrite for print)
ST R108 (Full)
Roud #16
RECORDINGS:
Betty Bare, Dianne Ward-Hicks, "Froggie Went A-Courting" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #145, recorded 04/22/2022)
Albert Beale, "A Frog He Would a-Wooing Go" (on FSB10)
Anne, Judy, & Zeke Canova, "Frog Went A-Courtin'" (Brunswick 264, 1928; on CrowTold02)
Elizabeth Cronin, "Uncle Rat Went Out to Ride" (on FSB10); "Uncle Rat" (on IRECronin01)
Lorna Morris Cyr, "Froggie Went A-Courting" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #91, recorded 01/23/2022); (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #92, recorded 02/20/2022)
Drusilla Davis, "Frog Went A-Courting" (AFS 347 B, 1935)
Otis High & Flarrie Griffin, "Froggie Went A-Courtin'" (on HandMeDown1)
Bradley Kincaid, "Froggie Went A Courting" (Champion 15466 [as Dan Hughey]/Silvertone 5188/Silvertone 8219/Supertone 9209, 1928)
Adolphus Le Ruez ,"The Frog and the Mouse" (on FSB10)
Pleaz Mobley, "Froggie Went A-Courting" (AFS; on LC12)
Chubby Parker, "King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O" (Columbia 15296D, 1928; on AAFM1, CrowTold01) (Supertone 9731, 1930) (Conqueror 7889, 1931)
Annie Paterson, "The Frog and the Mouse" (on FSB10)
Uncle Don, "Frog Went A'Courting" (Conqueror 9013, 1938)
Unknown artist(s), "A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go" (Harper-Columbia 1162, c. 1919)
Susan Waters, "Frog Went A'Courting" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #778, recorded 01/22/2024)
Warner Williams, "Mouse on the Hill" (on ClassAfrAm)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.26(3) [some words illegible], "The Frog in the Cock'd Hat" ("A frog he would a wooing go"), J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819; also Harding B 11(991), "The Frog in the Cock'd Hat"; Johnson Ballads 506 [last line cut], Harding B 11(1265), "Frog in a Cock'd Hat"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Kemo Kimo" (occasional floating lyrics)
cf. "I Ask That Gal" (tune)
cf. "The Bear in the Hill" (plot)
cf. "The Fly and the Bumblebee (Fiddle-Dee-Dee)" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
There Was a Puggie in a Well
There Lived a Puddie in the Well
The Frog's Wooing
Kaimee, Dearie
Y Broga Bach (Welsh)
NOTES [477 words]: The Complaynt of Scotland refers to a song "The frog cam to the myl door" (James A. H. Murray, editor, The Complaynt of Scotland, volume I (Introduction plus Chapters I-XIII), Early English Text Society, 1872 (I use the 1906 reprint; the Complaynt was published in 1549), p. lxxxiii; also E. K. Chambers, English Literature at the Close of the Middle Ages, Oxford, 1945, 1947, p. 181); this is widely thought to be this song, but of course this cannot be proved.
The notes on this song in Cazden et al (pp. 524-532) constitute probably the best succinct summary available on variants of this piece.
Spaeth has a note that the original version of this was supposed to refer to the Duke of Anjou's wooing of Elizabeth I of England. (I assume this is a reference to the incomparable Katherine Elwes Thomas, The Real Personages of Mother Goose, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., 1930, who gives a text of this and claims on p. 148 that "Here, step by step, is amusingly satirized the dramatic wooing of the elderly Elizabeth by the youthful Duke of Anjou, the queen at that time being forty-nine years of age, with the French prince telling off his youthful age at twenty-three." Elizabeth was 49 in 1582, so she still had more than twenty years to reign-- middle-aged, yes, but hardly elderly.) If the second known version (1611, in Melismata, reprinted in Chappell) were the oldest, this might be possible -- there are seeming political references to "Gib, our cat" and "Dick, our Drake." But the Wedderburn Complaynt of Scotland text, which at least anticipates the song, predates the reign of Queen Elizabeth by nine years, and Queen Mary Tudor by four. If it refers to any queen at all, it would have to be Mary Stuart.
Those who want a version of this piece which does not involve inter-species hanky-panky are advised to try J. A. Scott's version (or other American texts); in this, both creatures are mice. Of course, it does end with the cat interfering with the festivities.
In addition to "pure" texts of this song, some there exist versions which have gotten mixed with "Martin Said to His Man." The versions I've seen are often titled "Kitty Alone" ; the first such text seems to have been in Gammer Gurton's Garland (1784), which has clearly a "Frog" plot but the form (and some of the exaggerations) of "Martin." - RBW
The second of Chambers's (1870) texts is a from a 1630 copy of the 1580 text of "a ballad of a most strange wedding of the frogge and the mouse." - BS
According to Hyder E. Rollins, An Analytical Index to the Ballad-Entries (1557-1709) In the Register of the Company of Stationers of London, 1924 (I use the 1967 Tradition Press reprint with a new Foreword by Leslie Shepard), p. 158, entry #1815, that 1580 item is "A moste Strenge weddinge of the ffrogge and the mowse," registered November 21, 1580 by Edward White. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: R108

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