The Farmer's Curst Wife- George (VT) 1948 Flanders D
Flanders' Ancient Ballads- 1965; Notes by Coffin
The Farmer's Curst Wife
(Child 278)
Coffin's notes: There is an old proverb that says there are but two places where a man wants to have his wife- in bed and in the grave. Certainly, the scolding wife, one who can rout the devil himself, has left her mark on folklore from India and Russia to the western countries. This particular anecdote concerning her is a favorite of the American informant with a similar song, "The Devil in search of a wife," it was also popular among the printers of nineteenth-century London broadsides. ["The Sussex Farmer" being close to, or the origin of, Child A. "The Devil in search of a wife" is quite different- see English & Other versions- except for the last few stanzas.]
Originally, it must have concerned a contract in which a farmer hired the devil to do some plowing in exchange for a member of the family. The farmer, in miny texts, worries that he may lose his eldest son and is relieved when his wife is taken. The American versions follow Child A as a rule, it being rare that the wife come back to her cooking as in Child B. However, the yoking of the dogs and hogs to the plow and the proverbial sayings at the close of the song are frequently added to the Child A base in the New world.
The Flanders material needs little comment. Texts A and B, in which the farmer seems to be rather proud of his wife's triumph over the forces of hell are not common, though Phillips Barry, British Ballad's from Maine, 330-1, prints In example from Northeast Harbor. Nor are the C-I "Anthony Rowley" texts with the "right leg, left leg," refrains. But C in which the wife is the farmer, harnesses the cattle herself, and goes to the gates of hell, is the only text that introduces a really radical story variation. C is a noteworthy find.
American references for Child 278 may be found in Coffin, 148-50. see also Dean-Smith, 66, and Belden, 94-95, for English citations. Barry, op. cit., 332, cites local uses of the motif in New England.
The tunes for child 278 all belong to one tune family. A large proportion of them are especially closely related; the following tunes are slightly divergent: Ordway, Davis, Weeks, Brackett. The Underhill, Farnham, and Lorette tunes are very similar, as are the Moses and Blake tunes.
For general relationship to the larger group of tunes, see FCBa, 116, 117, 119; DV, 598 No. 46 (c), 599 No. 46 (E) and (F), 601 No. 46 (L); GCM, 373; Sharp I, 215, 278.
Flanders D. As sung by Elmer George of North Montpelier, Vermont. Mr. George says, "I don't recall where I learned it- it was just popular and a lot of people used to sing it." When asked if he ever heard it sung in the woods he replied: "Oh, land yes!"
M. Olney, Callector; November 19, 1948
The Farmer's Curst Wife
There was an old man and he had him a farm.
Over Brave-Brown, come rowley.
There was an old man and he had him a farm
And he had no oxen to carry it on.
With his right leg, left leg, upper leg, under leg,
Over Brave-Brown, come rowley.
(Follow pattern of first stanza for all stanzas.)
He hitched up a dog along with a sow,
He yoked up the dog along with the sow,
And he fed him corn-the devil knows how.
"Oh!" says the old farmer, "it's now I'm undone,
For the devil's come after my only son!"
"Oh," says the old devil, "oh, don't go astray.
It's your damn scolding wife I'm to take away!"
"Oh, take her, oh, take her, with all my heart
And I hope to God that you never will part!"
Oh, the devil, he loaded her into his sack
And like a tin pedlar went clickty-clack.
He carried her down to hell's backdoor;
He give her a flop right on to the floor.
She saw the little devils a-rattling their chains,
She up with her foot and let out their brains.
Oh, one little devil peeks over the wall,
Saying, "Take her back-she'll kill us all!"
(. . . spoken)
Oh, the devil, he loaded her on to his back.
Oh, the old devil, he loaded her into his sack
And like a damn fool he went tugging her back.
"Oh, here is your wife and she is well,
She's licked the devil and conquered all hell!"
Now you see that the woman are worse than the men;
They can go to hell and back again!