The Farmer's Curst Wife- Carpenter (VA) 1920 Davis M
[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- Traditional Ballads of Virginia
(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 baik 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.
M. "The Farmer's Curst Wife." collected by Mr. John stone: Sung by Miss Emma Carpenter. Madison county. November 3, 1920. with music.
1. There was an old farmer and he had a little farm,
Lily- fa-le-lily-fa-la,
He hai no horses to plow up his ground,
LilY- fa-lilY- fa-l a-re-do.
2 He hitched op his hogs and set them to plow,
And how he did plow the devil knows how.
3 The devil he took her up on his back
And away he went a-whickety-whack.
4 The little devils run all over the wall,
Say, "Carry her back, daddy, she'll conquer us all."