The Farmer's Curst Wife- Mayo (VA) 1920 Davis G
[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 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.
G. "The Farmer's Curst Wife." Collected by Mr. John Stone. Sung by Miss Bertha Mayo, of Wilmington, Va., Fluvanna County, November 7, 1920. "She learned it from her father. " (Mr. Stone).
1 There was an old man in Yorkshire dell,
He had three sons and he wished them not well.
Sing Ta-la-la-la.
2 The devil appeared to him one day:
"There it one of your family I must take away."
Sing Ta-la-la-Ia.
3 "You can take my oldest son;
"If he won't do, take two for one.''
4 "It's not Your oldest son I crave;
It's Your wife I must have."
5 "You can take her with all my heart;
I think you and her will never part."
6 The old devil he packed her in a sack, [1]
Soon found himself at the old home gate;
He dumped the old critter off on her feet. [2]
7 Three devils they met with a ball and chain;
She up with a club and beat out their brains.
8 "Now a jury we must call,
If we don't return her, she'll murder us all.''
9 The old devil then he packed her up in a sack,
First on shoulder, then on back,
Just like an old fool come wagging her back.
10 This shows that the women are worse than the men:
Been to the devil and brought her back again.
My footnotes:
1. Two stanzas combined; the second line is missing: "Just like a pedlar carrying a sack," or as in Davis I: Just like a brave pedlar carrying his pack.
2. pate (?) see Davis F; perhaps old english for- top of her head.