The Farmer's Curst Wife- Arthur (VA) 1876 Davis B
[I've kept the generic title given by Davis and his collectors. No informant unfamiliar with the ballad's provinence would title it- Farmer's Curst Wife- since it is not part of the text. The title should be taken in most cases from the first line.]
46. THE FARMER'S CURST WIFE
(Child, No. 278)
Davis' Notes: The ballad is represented by fifteen texts and six tunes in the Virginia archives. Of these, thirteen texts and all six tunes are here printed. Most of the Virginia texts show a likeness to the Child A version, but some exhibit features found only in Child B. It is clear that both versions are represented, with many interesting variations, not least in the philosophical stanza or stanzas at the end. The tripping tunes, some of them with a whistled burden, fit perfectly the comic story of the ballad, which is thus summarized by Child: "The devil comes for a farmer's wife and is made welcome to her by the husband. The woman proves to be no more controllable in hell than she had been at home; she kicks the imps about, and even brains a set of them with her pattens or a maul. For safety's sake, the devil is constrained to take her back to her husband." The moral of the tale is often pointed. "The Old Man under the Hill" seems to be the only unusual Virginia title; it is not, of course, the usual song of that name, though the title of that song may have been appropriated.
The material here given more than doubles the American store of this ballad. Other American references are Barry, No. 28; Belden, No. 13 (fragment); Bulletin, Nos. 4-6, 8-10; Campbell and Sharp, No. 34 (North Carolina, Virginia); Cox, No. 30; Journal, XIX, 298 (Belden, Missouri);- XXIV, 348 (Barry, Massachusetts, fragment, Maine), XXVII, 68 (Barry, Massachusetts); XXX, 329 (Kittredge, Missouri, fragments); Mackenzie, Ballads, No. 15; Sharp, Songs, 11, No. 3 (Kentucky). For additional references, see Cox, p. 164; Journal, XXX, 329.
B. "The Farmer's Curst Wife." collected by Miss Juliet Fauntleroy, sung by Mr. Beaver Arthur, near Lynch Station, Va. Pittsylvania County, November 16, 1915. Miss Juliet Fauntleroy writtes: Arthur said he learned this ballad in 1876 from Mack Witt, the son of a blacksmith in Pittsylvania County, Va. She adds: Miss Creasy also sang for me 'The Farmer's Curst Wife.' Her version was just like Mr. Beaver Arthur's except for the last verse which resembles Mrs. Sprouse's version. Here it is: -
All young men take warning and heed,
For an old wife is the very last thing you need."
1 There was an old farmer in London did dwell,
Oh me, sing tu le la lu,
He had an old wife, not wishing her well,
Tu le la, lu le la, lu.
2 The devil he came to his plow one day,
Saying, "One of your family I'll carry away."
3 "Well, You can have my oldest son,
If that don't do, take two for one."
4 "Well, 't aint you loldest son I crave,
It's your old wife I'll carry away."
5. "Well, take her, dear devil, with all my-heart,
Hoping to God you'll never more part."
6. He gathered ("gethered") her up into his old sack,
'T was first ("'fust") on his shoulder and then on his back.
7. When he got to the iron gate,
She fell out the old sack and skun her old face.
8. There ("Thar") came three devils with balls and chains,
She hauled off her fetters ("flatters") and slapt out their brains.
9. A court together the devil did call:
"If ("Ef") she stays here much longer she'll conquer us all."
10. He gathered ("gethered") her up into his old sack,
And like an old fool he went waggin' her back.
11. While traveling along through showers of rain,
Says ("Sez") he, "Here's your old wife I've brought back again."
12. "Well," says the old farmer, "I was born for a cuss;
I sent my wife to the devil, and he brought her back wuss." [1]
1. worse