Little Brown Dog

DESCRIPTION: "When I was a little boy As fat as I could go, They set me there upon the fence...." The boy fights and defeats a giant, induces his hen to hatch out a hare, acquires a dog with legs ten feet long, and otherwise does the impossible
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1891 (JAFL 4)
KEYWORDS: talltale animal chickens dog horse sheep humorous nonsense fight
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber),Shetlands) US(MA,NE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (22 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "WHEN I WAS A LITTLE BOY"
Randolph 357, "When I Was a Little Boy" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Greig/Duncan8 1701, "Speculation" (8 texts, 2 tunes)
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #149, p. 1, "Speculation" (1 text)
Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle 4, "As I Set Off To Turkey" (1 text)
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 145, "The Lofty Giant" (1 text)
Newman/Devlin-NeverWithoutASong, pp. 164-165, "When I Was a Little Boy" (1 text)
VaughanWilliams/Lloyd-PenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs, p. 101, "When I Was a Little Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Mi 712, "As I Was Going to Romford" (1 text)
Hudson-FolksongsOfMississippi 129, p. 275, "To London I Did Go" (1 text)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-2ed, pp. 140-141, "When I'se a Little Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, pp. 108-109, "Toll-a-Winker" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 24-29, "A Tale of Jests" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast 111, "The Lying Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-FolkSongsFromNewfoundland 87, "The Liar's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-FolksongsOfNewBrunswick, pp. 103-106, "The Little Bull Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi 79, "The Little Bull" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 394, "Little Brown Dog" (1 text)
JournalOfAmericanFolklore, William Wells Newell, "Nursery Rhymes from Maine," Vol. IV, No. 14 (Jul-Sep 1891), #5 pp. 269-270 "Jack the Giant-Killer" ("When I was a little boy, to London I did go") (2 texts)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, pp. 94, 541, "Autumn to May" (notes only)
DT, (AUTUMNTO)
ADDITIONAL: Roger deV. Renwick, _Recentering Anglo/American Folksong: Sea Crabs and Wicked Youths_, University Press of Mississippi, 2001, p. 81, "When I Was a Little Boy" (1 text)
Roud #1706
RECORDINGS:
George Decker, "A Tale of Jests" (on PeacockCDROM)
Bride Power, "The Lie" (on MUNFLA/Leach) (2 versions)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Derby Ram"
cf. "The Swapping Boy"
cf. "The Seven Wonders"
cf. "The Song of the Moor" (borrows this tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Big Jeest
Once I Had
The Lie Song
A Lad's Adventures
NOTES [138 words]: I've listed this song under a title by which it's well known; as it was extremely popular in the 1960s folk revival. -PJS
It's interesting that the two best-known titles today, "Autumn to May" and "Little Brown Dog," both seem to be modern labels not really known in tradition.
Versions of this song may take almost any form, as long as there is enough exaggeration. The piece is recognized by its short lines and stanzas. Here are samples: "When I was a little boy, To London I did go, Upon that banished (?) steeple, My gallantry to show." "I bought me a little hen, I did not take much care; I set her on an oyster shell, And she hatched me out a bear."
Hudson calls this a rhymed version of the story of Jack the Giant Killer. Some versions were doubtless influenced by that, but the song doesn't require killing a giant. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: VWL101

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