Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

I am trying to identify the "Cincinnati Walk". This expression comes up in a folk tale recorded from James Ellison (born 1913) who grew up in Jackson, Madison County, Tennessee. He heard it from his mother, who in turn learned it from her grandmother, a former slave. The tale itself clearly has European roots but the setting and language take you right to the American south.

Basically, the hero leaves home, falls in love, and with magical help defeats the evil witch who stands between him and his intended. They marry -- but instead of living "happily ever after", the closing formula runs like this: "And last time I seen'em, they doin' the Cincinnati Walk 'round the lake!"

Now, I danced the Tennessee Wig Walk and Teton Mountain Stomp back in junior high gym class, and Cincinnati Walk sounds to me like it ought to be a popular dance from the 1920s or 30s, but I can't find any record of it. I've looked in a few dance history sources, and asked the reference librarian at the Cincinnati Public Library, but with no success.

Any ideas out there? If you want to read the whole tale, you'll find it in Storytellers: Folktales and Legends from the South, edited by John A. Burrison, published in 1991 by the University of Georgia Press. The title? "The Wayward Boy", appropriately enough!

Margaret