Hugh Of Lincoln

: PLACES AND FAMILIES
: Popular Rhymes And Nursery Tales

He tossed the ball so high, so high,

He tossed the ball so low;

He tossed the ball in the Jew's garden,

And the Jews were all below.



Oh, then out came the Jew's daughter,

She was dressed all in green;

Come hither, come hither, my sweet pretty fellow,

And fetch your ball again.



These lines refer to the well-known story of the murder of a child at

Lincoln by a Jewess. The child was playing at ball, and threw it into

the Jew's garden. She enticed him into the house to recover it, killed

him, and, to conceal her guilt, threw the body into a deep well.

According to the ballads on the subject, the spirit of the boy answers

his mother's inquiry from the bottom of the well, the bells ring without

human aid, and several miracles are accomplished. The above fragment of

some old ballad on the subject was given me by Miss Agnes Strickland as

current in the country nursery.



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