Gentle Virginia- Miller (WV) 1919 Cox E
Folk-Songs of the South- John Harrington Cox 1925
29. THE WIFE WRAPT IN WETHER'S SKIN (Child, No. 277)
In West Virginia, this ballad goes under the titles: "Dandoo," "Bandoo," and "Gentle Virginia." Five variants have been found, A, B, and D practically alike and very similar to the version printed by Belden, Journal, xix, 298. The first four and the last two stanzas in C correspond to stanzas in A or B, but the arrangement is somewhat confused and several stanzas are more or less corrupt. Stanzas 5, 6, 7, and 8 are not to be found in any other American version nor in any of the Child versions. They may point to a different source for this copy, or they may have been deliberately added by some singer to satisfy a whim or to make a local hit. In phraseology and in the burden, E shows a close relationship to the text printed by Newell, Journal, vn, 253 (Child, v, 304).
For American texts see Journal, vn, 253 (Newell; Massachusetts; reprinted by Child, v, 304); xix, 298 (Belden; Missouri); xxx, 328 (Kittredge, from Belden; Missouri; reprinted by Pound, No. 6 A) ; Campbell and Sharp, No. 33 (Virginia and Kentucky) ; Pound, No. 6 B (Nebraska). For references see Journal, xxx, 328. Add Bulletin, Nos. 7-10; Reed Smith, Journal, XXVIII, 200.
E. "Gentle Virginia." Contributed by Miss Florence Miller, Turtle Creek, Boone County, 1919.
1 I married me a wife,
Gentle Virginia my Rosy my Lee
And I wish to the Lord I had let her alone,
As the dew flies over the green valley.
2 So the very next day I went out to plow,
I come in, "Is my dinner ready now?"
3 "You triflin' old scamp, you triflin' old whelp,
If you get any dinner, you'll get it yourself."
4 So I went into the kitchen, what I did not choose,
In fear I would spoil my new cloth shoes.
5 So I went out to the barn,
I cut me a switch as long as my arm.
6 And on my way back [her] I met,
And around her back went whickity whack.
7 "I'll tell all my people, I'll tell all my kin,
You beat me up with a hickory limb."
8 "Go tell all your people, go tell all your kin,
If I take a notion I'll whip you again."
9 And ever since that she has been a good wife,
And I hope that she will to the end of her life.