"The Ballade of the Skunk"
by Mellinger E. Henry
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 57, No. 226 (Oct. - Dec., 1944), pp. 281-282
"THE BALLADE OF THE SKUNK":
-The publication of a version of "Ze Skunk" by Professor E. C. Beck of Central Michigan College of Education, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, in this JOURNAL (57: 211-12, 1944) reminded me that I have a version of that song in my collection. I have no record of its source, though I believe I secured it either in Northern Maine or in the Adirondack region of New York about twenty years ago. As this version has several additional stanzas and varies considerably from that of Professor Beck I submit it here.
"THE BALLADE OF THE SKUNK"
1. I hont de bear, I hont de moose
An' sometimes hont de rat.
Last night I take my axe and go
To hont de pole-cat.
2. My fren, Bill, says, "Very fine fur
An' sometimes good to eat."
I tell my wife I get fur coat-
Some time I get some meat.
3. I walk about two, three, five, six miles
An' then I feel strong smell,
Tink maybe dat dam skonk he die
An' fur coat go to hell.
4. By'mby I see dat skonk
Close up by one big tree.
I sneak up ver' close behind
An' tink he no see me.
5. Sacre blue! I tink I blind.
Jess Crise! I cannot see.
I run roun' an' roun' an' roun'
Till bump in a goddam tree.
6. By'mby I drop my axe
An' light out for de shack.
I tink 'bout ten million skonk
He climb up my back.
7. My wife, she meet me at de door:
She sic on me de dog.
She say, "You no sleep here tonight;
Go out and sleep with hog."
8. I try to get in dat hog-pen,
Jess Crise! Now wat you tink?
Dat gaddam hog no stand for dat
On account of awful stink.
9. I no more will hont de skonk
To get his fur and meat.
For if his pees he smell so bad,
Jess Crise! What if he sheet?
MELLINGER E. HENRY
Ridgefield, N. J.