The Farmer's Curst Wife- Mitchell (VA) 1920 Davis D
[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.
D. "The Farmer's Curst Wife." Collected by Professor D. R. Carpenter and Mr. John Stone. Sung by Mrs. J. A. Mitchell and others, near Brightwood, Madison County. August 21, 1920. Mr. Stone writes: "Her daughters, Miss Mary Mitchell and Mrs. Holland Hoffman, also sang the ballad. D. R. Carpenter, of Salem College, who lives near Brightwood, Va., spent the whole of that day driving me about in his car to meet prospective ballad singers. We spent a large part of the day at Mr. Mitchell's. Mr. Mitchell, Mrs. Mitchell, and their two grown daughters, all sang for us. From them we got two complete ballads, three fragments, and four tunes."
1 Once there was a man, he bought him a farm, (whistle)
He had no oxen to carry it on. (Whistle)
2 He hitched up his pig and began to plow,
Old Mr. Devil passed over the brow.
3 "Old Mr. Devil, I'll have you undone,
For you are after my oldest son."
4 "It's not your oldest son I crave;
It's your damned old scolding wife I'll have."
5 He took her up, all on his back, [1]
[Just like a pedlar toting a sack.]
6 When he got to the devil's great door,
He throwed her sprawling into the floor.
7. One little devil came bringing a chain;
She up with her foot and kicked out his brains.
8. One little devil says, "Take her up higher,"
She up with her foot and kicked him in the fire.
9. One little devil peeped over the wall;
"Carry her back, daddy, she'll murder us all."
10. He took her up all on his back,
And like a damned fool came lugging her back.
11. Gentlemen, a woman can do more than a man:
Into hell and safe back to land.
Footnote:
1. I've added the mising line, or, as in Davis I: Just like a brave pedlar carrying his pack.