Chapter 7 THE THREE SISTERS.

There was t'ree sister living into a house, an' everybody want them fe marry, an' them refuse.

An' one day a Snake go an' borrow from his neighbour long coat an' burn-pan hat an' the whole set out of clothing. Then he dress himself, an' him tell his friends that him mus' talk to those young lady. An' what you think the fellow does? He get up a heap a men to carry him to the young lady yard. An' when him got there the door was lock with an iron bar. An' when he come he say:-"Please to open the door, there is a stranger coming in." An' he sing like this:-

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My eldes' sister, will you open the door?

My eldes' sister, will you open the door oh?

Fair an gandelow steel.

An' the eldest one was going to open the door. An' the last one, who was a old-witch, say to her sister:-"Don't open the door," an' she sing:-

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My door is bar with a scotran bar,

My door is bar with a scotran bar oh,

Fair an' gandelow steel.

Then the Snake ask again to the same tune:-

My second sister will you open the door?

My second sister will you open the door oh?

Fair an' gandelow steel.

An' the youngest, which was old-witch, sing again:-

My door is bar with an iron bar,

My door is bar with an iron bar oh,

Fair an' gandelow steel.

An' the Snake turn to a Devil, an' the t'ree sister come an' push on the door to keep it from open.

An' the Devil ask a third time:-

My youngest sister will you open the door?

My youngest sister will you open the door oh?

Fair an' gandelow steel.

But the last sister won't have it so, an' she said with a very wrath:-

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The Devil roguer than a womankind,

The Devil roguer than a womankind oh,

Fair an' gandelow steel.

An' the Devil get into a great temper an' say:-

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What is roguer than a womankind?

What is roguer than a womankind oh?

Fair an' gandelow steel.

Then the Devil fly from the step straight into hell an' have chain round his waist until now.

Jack Mantora me no choose none.

NOTES.

Snake is pronounced with an indefinite short vowel between the s and n, senake.

burn-pan hat, the tall hat of civilized towns. The pan is the usual cylindrical tin vessel used for cooking. When blackened by fire it is a burn-pan or burnt pan. It is pronounced like French bonne.

Gandelow, scotran. The meaning of these words is lost.

roguer. This word is doubtful. Sometimes it sounds like rowgard, at others like rowgod. It may mean "more roguish." The boy who gave me this story often quotes this line from a hymn:

"To break the bonds of cantling sin."

One day I asked him to point it out in his hymnbook. It was conquering. He can say it perfectly well, but he still goes on with cantling. It is not surprising, therefore, that we cannot recover words passed from mouth to mouth for generations.

womankind. Again it is doubtful whether this is a single word or two words. The article would fix it as the latter in pure English, but in negro speech it goes for nothing.

old-witch, though she was a young girl: see notes to No. IV. (Tomby).

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