This is a version of "The Maid freed from the Gallows," "The Golden Ball," or "The Prickly Bush." For the latter see English County Songs. Child gives very exhaustive notes on the story and its variants; also a tune, noted in North Carolina, "The Prickly Bush" has a tune quite unlike Child's, and the Jamaican air is quite distinct from both.
[XXI. Tacoma and the Old Witch Girl], [p. 65].
Cf. "The Keys of Heaven" in English County Songs, "Blue Muslin" in Songs of the West, and "Madam I will gi'e you," etc., in Journal of the Folk-Song Society, No. 7. All these airs are distinct from each other, and from the Jamaican tune.
[XXIX. Parson Puss and Parson Dog], [p. 91].
This tune is the first half of the old French air "Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman?" used so often by English children in their games. See note in Moffat and Kidson's Children's Songs and Games of Long Ago, p. 42. Other adaptations of the same tune are [CXVI.] ([p. 215]), [CLXXVII.] ([p. 264]), and [CLXXXIX.] ([p. 272]).
Cf. "[King Daniel]." This is again the story of "May Colvin" or "The Outlandish Knight." The tune "Come, pretty Poll" here given is rather reminiscent of one traditional air to the ballad sung still in different parts of England (where numerous tunes to the favourite story have been noted). See "The Outlandish Knight" in Songs of Northern England (Stokoe and Reay) for the type of tune referred to, but plentiful variants from Hertfordshire, the West of England, Yorkshire, etc., exist in MS.