Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
The Devil's Nine Questions / The Devil and the Nine Questions / Inter Diabolus Et Virgo / The Three Sisters / Jennifer Gentle / Juniper, Gentle and Rosemary / There Was an Old Man Lived in the West / Riddles Wisely Expounded (Child No. 1) - Sung by Miss Alfreda Adelaide Marion Peel (1890–1953, she never married) of Salem, Roanoke County, Virginia, USA. Recorded by Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. on August 9, 1932. Miss Alfreda Peel collected the song from Mrs. Rill Martin of Mechanicsburg, Bland County, Virginia, formerly of Giles County, on September 11, 1922, and an additional stanza on October 22, 1933. Miss Peel taught the song to Mrs. Texas Gladden of Salem, the two women were near neighbours and shared a love for old ballads.
00:00:00 The Devil and the Nine Questions (Take 1) - Alfreda M. Peel
00:03:32 The Devil and the Nine Questions (Take 2) - Alfreda M. Peel
00:06:37 The Devil's Nine Questions (Old Copy) - Texas Gladden
00:09:29 The Devil's Nine Questions (New Copy) - Texas Gladden
00:12:11 The Devil's Nine Questions - Mildred Creighton
00:14:46 There Was an Old Man Lived in the West - Harriet Eldredge Eldred
Note by Kevin W.:
A traditional version of Riddles Wisely Expounded (Child 1). This riddle ballad is rare in America with only a handful of genuine versions found. It goes back to at least the 15th century. Under the title "Inter Diabolus Et Virgo" (Between Devil and Virgin) it is found in the Rawlinson Manuscript of circa 1445.
Modern texts collected in Virginia and Kentucky are astoundingly similar to the 15th century version and one can only wonder if they were kept alive by tradition or reintroduced at a later date via print. The Riddle Song / I Gave My Love a Cherry (Roud 330) is comparable in theme and antiquity, going back to the Sloane Manuscript of circa 1430 under the title "I have a yong suster", however, unlike The Devil's Nine Questions it is known to have been printed many times over the centuries, so its survival is less surprising.
A secondary form of Child 1 exists where a story of a knight courting the youngest of three sisters has become attached to the riddles. Sometimes the knight turns out to be the devil in disguise, sometimes he has no ill intentions and promises to marry the woman if she can answer his riddles correctly. In its non supernatural variant it was printed on 17th century British broadsides.
I know of only one sound recording of this later form of the ballad. "There Was an Old Man Lived in the West", from Mrs. Harriet Eldredge Eldred of Hardwick, Caledonia County, Vermont, USA, recorded by Helen Hartness Flanders on October 6, 1958. Her text leaves no doubt that the suitor is the devil.
Sometimes the riddles got attached to The Fause Knight Upon the Road (Child 3) by similarity of theme. See "The False Knight On The Road", sung by Ben Henneberry of Devil's Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, collected by Helen Creighton in 1932, for an example.
Song transcription:
There was a knight came riding by,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety,
And there he spied a weaver's lass,
And she's the weaver's bonny. [*]
"If you don't answer me questions nine,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety,
I'll take you off to hell alive,
And you're the weaver's bonny.
"What is whiter than the milk?
Sing ninety-nine and ninety;
What is softer than the silk?
Say you're the weaver's bonny."
"Snow is whiter than the milk,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety;
Down is softer than the silk,
And I'm the weaver's bonny."
"What is louder than a horn?
Sing ninety-nine and ninety;
What is sharper than a thorn?
Sing I'm the weaver's bonny."
"Thunder's louder than a horn,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety;
Death is sharper than a thorn,
Sing I'm the weaver's bonny."
"What is higher than a tree?
Sing ninety-nine and ninety;
What is deeper than the sea?
Sing I'm the weaver's bonny."
"Heaven's higher than a tree,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety;
And hell is deeper than the sea,
Sing I'm the weaver's bonny."
"What is innocenter than a lamb,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety;
What is worse than woman kind?
Say I'm the weaver's bonny."
"A babe is innocenter than a lamb,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety;
She Devil's worse than woman kind, [**]
Sing I'm the weaver's bonny."
"You have answered me questions nine,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety,
Oh, you are God's, you're not my own,
And you're the weaver's bonny."
[*] The origin of this opening stanza is left unexplained. Mrs. Martin sang the same text and tune with a different opening stanza:
The Devil went a-courting and he did ride,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety,
A sword and a pistol by his side,
And you're the weaver's bonny.
[**] Mrs. Martin sang "The Devil". She Devil, amusing as it is, goes back to a misreading of Miss Peel's original manuscript. A 78 RPM record by Burl Ives immortalised this mistake in 1944, incidentally enabling us to track later recordings of the song from traditional singers back to the Ives recording if they include the She Devil line.
The Devil's Nine Questions / The Devil and the Nine Questions / Inter Diabolus Et Virgo / The Three Sisters / Jennifer Gentle / Juniper, Gentle and Rosemary / There Was an Old Man Lived in the West / Riddles Wisely Expounded (Child No. 1) - Sung by Miss Alfreda Adelaide Marion Peel (1890–1953, she never married) of Salem, Roanoke County, Virginia, USA. Recorded by Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. on August 9, 1932. Miss Alfreda Peel collected the song from Mrs. Rill Martin of Mechanicsburg, Bland County, Virginia, formerly of Giles County, on September 11, 1922, and an additional stanza on October 22, 1933. Miss Peel taught the song to Mrs. Texas Gladden of Salem, the two women were near neighbours and shared a love for old ballads.
00:00:00 The Devil and the Nine Questions (Take 1) - Alfreda M. Peel
00:03:32 The Devil and the Nine Questions (Take 2) - Alfreda M. Peel
00:06:37 The Devil's Nine Questions (Old Copy) - Texas Gladden
00:09:29 The Devil's Nine Questions (New Copy) - Texas Gladden
00:12:11 The Devil's Nine Questions - Mildred Creighton
00:14:46 There Was an Old Man Lived in the West - Harriet Eldredge Eldred
Note by Kevin W.:
A traditional version of Riddles Wisely Expounded (Child 1). This riddle ballad is rare in America with only a handful of genuine versions found. It goes back to at least the 15th century. Under the title "Inter Diabolus Et Virgo" (Between Devil and Virgin) it is found in the Rawlinson Manuscript of circa 1445.
Modern texts collected in Virginia and Kentucky are astoundingly similar to the 15th century version and one can only wonder if they were kept alive by tradition or reintroduced at a later date via print. The Riddle Song / I Gave My Love a Cherry (Roud 330) is comparable in theme and antiquity, going back to the Sloane Manuscript of circa 1430 under the title "I have a yong suster", however, unlike The Devil's Nine Questions it is known to have been printed many times over the centuries, so its survival is less surprising.
A secondary form of Child 1 exists where a story of a knight courting the youngest of three sisters has become attached to the riddles. Sometimes the knight turns out to be the devil in disguise, sometimes he has no ill intentions and promises to marry the woman if she can answer his riddles correctly. In its non supernatural variant it was printed on 17th century British broadsides.
I know of only one sound recording of this later form of the ballad. "There Was an Old Man Lived in the West", from Mrs. Harriet Eldredge Eldred of Hardwick, Caledonia County, Vermont, USA, recorded by Helen Hartness Flanders on October 6, 1958. Her text leaves no doubt that the suitor is the devil.
Sometimes the riddles got attached to The Fause Knight Upon the Road (Child 3) by similarity of theme. See "The False Knight On The Road", sung by Ben Henneberry of Devil's Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, collected by Helen Creighton in 1932, for an example.
Song transcription:
There was a knight came riding by,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety,
And there he spied a weaver's lass,
And she's the weaver's bonny. [*]
"If you don't answer me questions nine,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety,
I'll take you off to hell alive,
And you're the weaver's bonny.
"What is whiter than the milk?
Sing ninety-nine and ninety;
What is softer than the silk?
Say you're the weaver's bonny."
"Snow is whiter than the milk,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety;
Down is softer than the silk,
And I'm the weaver's bonny."
"What is louder than a horn?
Sing ninety-nine and ninety;
What is sharper than a thorn?
Sing I'm the weaver's bonny."
"Thunder's louder than a horn,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety;
Death is sharper than a thorn,
Sing I'm the weaver's bonny."
"What is higher than a tree?
Sing ninety-nine and ninety;
What is deeper than the sea?
Sing I'm the weaver's bonny."
"Heaven's higher than a tree,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety;
And hell is deeper than the sea,
Sing I'm the weaver's bonny."
"What is innocenter than a lamb,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety;
What is worse than woman kind?
Say I'm the weaver's bonny."
"A babe is innocenter than a lamb,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety;
She Devil's worse than woman kind, [**]
Sing I'm the weaver's bonny."
"You have answered me questions nine,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety,
Oh, you are God's, you're not my own,
And you're the weaver's bonny."
[*] The origin of this opening stanza is left unexplained. Mrs. Martin sang the same text and tune with a different opening stanza:
The Devil went a-courting and he did ride,
Sing ninety-nine and ninety,
A sword and a pistol by his side,
And you're the weaver's bonny.
[**] Mrs. Martin sang "The Devil". She Devil, amusing as it is, goes back to a misreading of Miss Peel's original manuscript. A 78 RPM record by Burl Ives immortalised this mistake in 1944, incidentally enabling us to track later recordings of the song from traditional singers back to the Ives recording if they include the She Devil line.
