Brave Old Anthony Marala- Chickering (MI) 1934 Gardner- D
[The incomplete verses are easy to fill in from extant versions. From: Emelyn Elizabeth Gardner and Geraldine Jencks Chickering, Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan (1939).]
154 THE FARMER'S CURST WIFE
Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan (Child, No. 278)
This is a very old ballad, steeped in demonology, of which many versions have been recorded in America. Child (V, 107-108) notes that "A curst wife who was a terror to demons is a feature in a widely spread and highly humorous tale, Oriental and European." Neither of the two Child texts mentions any earlier dealings between the devil and the farmer, as Michigan E. The Michigan texts A, C, D, and E are all more similar to Child A than to B, which is in Scotch dialect. There is a refrain in Child B, and A has a chorus of whistlers. The refrains of Michigan A, B, and D are quite different from those of other published texts. For British texts see JFSS, II, 184-185, and III, 131-132; and Williams, p. 211. For American texts see Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, pp. 325-335 Cox, pp. 164-165; Davis, pp. 505-515, Flanders and Brown, pp. 226-228; Lomax, pp. 110-111; Mackenzie, p 64; and Sharp, I, 275-281. Burns remodeled an old ballad which, his wife said, he gave "a terrible brushing" and which he called "Kellyburnbraes" (JAFSS, XVIII, 27-38). It is somewhat similar to the Michigan text of the same name, but there are many variations in the words, and the refrains are different For comment on the refrain see Introduction, pp. 20-21.
D. Brave Old Anthony Marala- Sung in 1931 by Mr. B. A. Chickering, Belding, who had learned the song from his father, Mr. Sylvester Chickering.
[music]
1 The devil he came to his house one day,
Brave old Anthony Marala,
Saying, "One of your family I'll take away."
By the right leg, left leg, upper leg, under leg,
Brave old Anthony Marala.
2. . . . . . . . . . .
"But I'll have your darned old wife," he said.
3 "Just take her and take her with all of my heart,
Here's hoping that you two never will part."
4 Three little devils set bound in chains;
She grabbed up a hell hook and knocked out their brains.
5 One little devil peeked over the wall,
Saying, "Take her away or she will murder us all."
6 . . . . . . . . . .
And like a darn fool he came luggin' her back.