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This lengthy dialogue first makes its appearance in the middle of the 19th century, where it was printed as a broadside and also in Dixon & Bell, ‘Ballads & Songs of the Peasantry of England.’ It took hold in southern England, but nowhere else, and several versions have turned up in oral tradition. It is still sung at the end of the mummers play in Symondsbury, Dorset.
For Gloucestershire tunes to this song, search for 873 under Roud numbers on the Browse page.
Notes by Gwilym Davies 7 May 2015