Singers and Storytellers Page: 42
v, 298 p. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
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SINGERS AND STORYTELLERS
story of a girl captured by pirates and held for ransom and of
her unsuccessful appeal to her family until she summons her
husband. This story is built through description, explanation,
and motivation, but the ballad that is the end product is nothing
but the concrete climax:
Hangman, hangman, slack your rope
Slack it for a while
I think I see my father coming, coming
many a mile...
Two years ago in Jamaica I collected a charming song:
Seven steep hills I have climbed for thee
Climbed for thee, climbed for thee
Seven steep hills I have climbed for thee
Turn to me King Henry, Turn to me
Seven drops of blood I've shed for thee
Shed for thee, shed for thee
Seven drops of blood I've shed for thee
Turn to me King Henry, Turn to me
Seven sweet babes I've born to thee
Born to thee, born to thee
Seven sweet babes I've born to thee
Turn to me King Henry, Turn to me.
The singer could give no information about the song other
than that her grandfather had sung it and that she liked it.
Even the socio-historian would be hard put to it to fit this into
a pattern. But this is a part of an old tale which tells a detailed
story of a man (incidentally not a king) who, tired of his wife
though she had borne him seven sons, discarded her for a
younger woman; how he later was overcome by his enemy and
told by this person that he would be spared only if he could
answer certain riddles; how the man offered to give anything
in his power to one who could help him; how his ex-wife came,
answered the riddles, and then asked to sleep with him for
one night as her reward. He had to agree, but he turned his42
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Singers and Storytellers (Book)
Collection of popular folklore of Texas, including personal anecdotes about storytellers and singers, as well as folk songs, myths, and ghost stories. The index begins on page 295.
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Boatright, Mody C. Singers and Storytellers, book, 1961; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67655/m1/48/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.