Wake snakes and come to Taw
Posted by Mugball-us on January 31, 2005
In Reply to: Wake snakes and come to Taw posted by Shae on January 31, 2005
: : This is the first line of a funny little ditty my Grandmother would recite. Her ancestors came to Georgia from England. I know there is a Taw River in Devon. I don't see one in Georgia. Is this line a part of something else- a poem, song, etc.? I do not bother to give the rest of the ditty as it has nothing to do with this one line. Thanks.
: It might have a Biblical origin. The Tau (Taw) cross and serpents feature in some of the Books of the Bible. The rest of the ditty might give us a clue.
I have no idea where the Taw is. There is a Haw River in North Carolina, and a Wake County too, but that is a stretch.
The line seems to have been pretty well known in Kentucky in the late 19th Century. I found the following reference in Irvin S Cobb's "Exit Laughing". The book speaks of a country lawyer whose shingle reads,
"WAKE SNAKES AND COME TO TAW
B.L.D. GUFFEY WILL PRACTICE LAW"
I am curious about your grandmother's ditty, too.
- Wake snakes and come to Taw Lewis 31/January/05
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