80
The Three Butchers
This ballad, deservedly popular in England — there are several
nineteenth-century stall prints of it, and it is still traditional song
* Should be "show," of course. Perhaps in Frye's speech the two
words are homonyms.
in Sussex (JFSS i 174-5), Wiltshire (FSUT 275-6), and Somerset
(JFSS VIII 2-3) — goes back to the seventeenth century; see Rox-
hurghe Ballads vii 59-63. And it has held its own pretty well in
America; texts have been reported from Newfoundland (BSSN
82-6), Vermont (CSV 14-15, NGMS 238-40), Virginia (SharpK
I 372, FSV 39), West Virginia (FSS 302), Kentucky (SharpK i
371-2), Tennessee (SharpK i 370-1), North Carolina (SharpK i
371, OSSG 12-13, FSRA 82), Arkansas (OFS i 376), and Florida
(SFLQ VIII 174-5). It has suffered some loss of coherence in our
texts. In the original there wejre three butchers ; in our texts the
men are two, not three, and there is no suggestion that they are
butchers. In the original the woman is a decoy for the robbers,
but in our text her killing of the hero seems unmotivated.
'Dixie and Johnson.' From Thomas Smith of Zionville, Watauga
county, in 1915, as "sung and picked on a banjo for me" by John Corum
of Zionville. Perhaps it needs to be said that "A good woman" of
stanza 9 is the same woman that the two men rescued in stanza 5.
1 Dixie said to Johnson some cold winter day,
'Let's^ go ride the mountain to pass the time away.'
2 Well, they rode to the top of the mountain, a hundred
miles or more.
Dixie said to Johnson, 'I heard a woman cry.'
3 Well, they looked ofif to the rightside and they looked ofif
to the left ;
They saw a naked woman all chained down to herself.
4 'Woman, woman, what caused you here to lie?'
'The robbers have robbed me and left me here to die.'
5 They wrapped a gray coat around her and took her on
behind.
They wrapped a gray coat around her and took her on
behind.
6 They rode on down the mountain a hundred miles or more.
There stood seven old robbers all standing in the road.
7 Johnson said to Dixie, 'Let's take wings and fly.'
Dixie said to Johnson, 'Before I'll fly I'll die.'
8 And about six o'clock they let in to the shootin' ;
They killed six old robbers, the seventh he did run.
9 Well, Dixie said to Johnson, 'Let's take a little rest.'
A good woman stepped up and stabbed him in the breast.
* Here and in stanzas 7 and 9 below this is written '"e's"; perhaps
an attempt to render the local pronunciation.
I. I) E R H A I, I. A I) S MOST L Y I! R I T I S H 2y\
10 'Good woman! good woman! Can yon tell the crime you've
done?
You've killed the greatest soldier that ever fired a gun.'
B
'Good Woman.' Contributed by the Reverend L. D. Hayman, prob-
ably from Pasquotank county, in 191 9 or thereabouts.
1 'Ciood woman, good woman, oh, what are you doing down
here ?'
'The robhers, they are coming to bind me down to die.'
2 Oh, Johnny, being a good man, a man with a willing mind,
He threw his overcoat around her and took her on behind,
3 They rode from six in the morning until the setting of
the sun,
Until they came to the robbers — and then the fight begun.
4 Oh. Johnny being a brave man, he fought with the setting
sun;
Oh, Johnny killed six of the robbers, and the other seven
did run.
5 Johnny, feeling tired, he lay down for a rest.
The woman drew a dagger and stabbed John in the breast.
6 'Good woman, good woman, oh, see what you have done !
You've killed the bravest soldier that's from old England.'
----
80
The Three Butchers
'Good Woman.' Sung by anonymous singer. Recorded probably in Pasquotank
county in 1919 or thereabouts.
For melodic relationship cf. **FSRA 83.
Scale: Hexachordal, plagal. Tonal Center: f. Structure: abed (2,2,2,2).