Our Good Man- Burditt (VT) c.1940s Flanders E
[Flanders' title, should be first line. No date given. From: Flanders' Ancient Ballads IV, 1965. Her notes follow.
Both Elwin Burditt of Springfield, Vermont and his wife were informants for Flanders in the 1940s. They were at an advanced age then so this is probably much older than 1940. This fragment has a partial verse about the pudding (porridge) stick which is rare in US versions (see aqso Barry B from BBM). The goodman asks, "Whose sword is this?" and the response from the wife is, "It's only a porridge stick. . " See Child A- text is from Herd's MSS:
9 Hame came our goodman,
And hame came he,
And he saw a sword,
Whare a sword should na be.
10. 'What's this now, goodwife?
What's this I see?
How came this sword here,
Without the leave o' me?'
'A sword?' quo' she.
'Ay, a sword,' quo' he.
11. 'Shame fa' your cuckold face,
Ill mat ye see!
It's but a porridge-spurtle,*
My minnie sent to me.'
'A spurtle?' quo' he.
'Ay, a spurtle,' quo' she.
12. 'Far hae I ridden,
And farer hae I gane,
But siller-handed spurtles
I saw never nane.'
*11.3: 'porridge-spurtle,' stick for stirring porridge.
R. Matteson 2013]
Our Goodman (Child 274)
Mrs. Sullivan's statement that "Our Goodman" is a drinking song" into which is "put anything they like" is an accurate description of this usually bawdy piece. It has been known in Britain at least since the end of the eighteenth century and a German translation of an English broadside started its spread across Europe during the early nineteenth century. Generally, the American texts are Scottish in form, like Child A, but as a rule they attempt to soften the cuckolding of the husband by making him a drunkard. Note, however, Flanders G.
See Coffin, 144-b (American); Dean-Smith, 70 (English); and Greig and Keith, 214-6 (Scottish) for a start on a bibliography. Child, V, 88 f., discusses the use of the motif in literary and folk tales.
Many informants refuse to sing this ballad on moral grounds, though the lines that have caused them to feel this may are not to be found in print.
E. Our Good Man- Sung by Elwin Burditt of Springfield, Vermont, as learned in Alpena, Michigan. H. H. F., Collector
[missing]
"For many miles I've travelled,
For many miles or more,
But I never saw a puddin' stick
With a gold head on before."
[missing]
"You damn fool, You blind fool,
Why can't you ever see,
It's nothing but a cow
My mother sent to me?"
"Many miles I have travelled,
Ten thousand miles or more,
But stirrups on a cow
I never saw before."