The Old Wether's Skin- Fish (NH) 1941 Warner B
44. The Old Wether's Skin- Lena Bourne Fish, 1941
This ballad is Child No. 277 and is one of the two versions we collected - the other, very different-from Frank Proffitt in North Carolina called "Dan Doo" (No. 103). Versions have been found in all parts of the British Isles and throughout the United States. It goes back to the sixteenth century. Shakespeare is thought to have used its theme for his "The Taming of the Shrew."
A version, almost the same as Mrs. Fish's, is in the Carrie B. Grover collection, A Heritage of Songs. Coffin and Renwick have interesting notes about the ballad's provenance and usage. Belden says that the "Rosemary" and "Dan Doo" refrains are found
only in America- the first "the preferred New England form," the second found usually in the South.
The "wether" is the bellwether of the flock of sheep, the leader. A common way to tan sheep's hide was beating it with hickory switches.
See: Belden , 92; Cazden ll, 503; Child No. 277, 6o3 ("The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin"); Coffin and Renwick, :146, 274; Flanders, Ancient Ballads Traditionally Sung in New England, Vol. a, 77; Grover, 68
THE OLD WETHER'S SKIN
I married a wife in the month of June,
Gentle fair Jennie Rosa Marie
I think I married a little too soon,
As the dew flies over the mulberry tree.
I think I married a little too soon,
As the dew flies over the green valley.
She would not card, and she would not spin,
Refrain
Afraid of soiiing her lily white skin,
Refrain
Afraid of soiling her lily white skin,
Refrain
So while I was tilling my meadow and lands,
She sat in the parlor with folded hands,
One day I came home from jogging the plow,
Saying, "Good wife is my dinner done now?"
"There's bread and there's cheese upon the shelf,"
"If you want any dinner, go get it yourself,"
Down to the sheep pen I went with haste,
And I killed the bellwether without any waste,
Then I took out my knife and went rip, rip, rip,
And off went the wether's pelt strip, strip, strip,
I then threw the hide upon my wife's back,
And with two sticks I went whickety whack,
I will tell my brother and all of my kin,
For to wallop your wife is surely a sin!
You may tell your brother and all of your kin,
But I'm bound to tan my old wether's skin,
She then cooked my dinner and set up the board,
With "Yes, Sir," and "No, Sir," at every word,
She cooked my food well, she did card and spin,
Since the day that I tanned my old wether's skin,