There Was a Man Lived in the West
[Helen Hartness Flanders printed a Vermont version in her 1960 book, Ancient Ballads Traditionally Sung in New England 1 pp.45-50 (version A) sung by Mrs. Hattie Eldredge Hardwick collected by Marguerite Olney. Reprinted in Riddling Tales from around the World by Marjorie Dundas. Notes by Coffin follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
Riddles Wisely Expounded
(Child 1)
This song seems to have originally involved a battle of wits between a girl and the Devil. The Child A* version, entitled "Inter Diabolus et Virgo," dates all the way back to the fifteenth century. Later, however, as in the British broadside texts and in most American versions, Satan becomes secularized into a knight or an amorous gentleman.
The song is rarely found in this country and was first turned up in Virginia by Alfreda Peel. An account of her discovery was printed by Arthur K. Davis in his Traditional Ballads of Virginia, 46-47. In New England, the song has been printed by Phillips Barry in British Ballad's from Maine, 429, and has proved to be somewhat more common than in the rest of the country. In BSSNE, XII, g, Barry discusses a fascinating history of one form of the song us it travels from d'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy through a German translation by Herder included by Goethe in die Fischerin through an English re-translation by William Aytoun to an eventual re-emergence into oral tradition.
Flanders A follows the Pepys broadside form of the song in the refrain and in the presence of the three daughters but the identification of the questioner with the Devil is still prominent. The text is not unusual, although its opening stanza seems to be borrowed from "The Twa Sisters." Flanders B is far more interesting. Mrs. Sullivan thought she was recalling "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship,' (Child 46) However, in the 1930's the rate Phillips Barry wrote Mrs. Flanders concerning the fragment.
The fact that Mrs. Sullivan recited, these lines in this form:
"What is rounder than a ring? what is higher than a king?
What is deeper than the seas?
Before I lie one night with you near either stock or wall."
"The world is rounder than a ring, God is higher than any king;
Hell is deeper than the seas,
So you and I in one bed. must lie and you'll lie next the wall."
thus producing lines which will not fit the airs of the ballad, Child 46, seems to leave little doubt that they belong to a
ballad cast in short stanzas of two lines of four feet each. THIS IS THE FORM OF CHILD 1!
I recall no version of child, 46 having the mid-rhyme in any line.
Mrs. Sullivan probably had material from Child 1 and Child 46 mixed in her mind. Barry's guess is essentially correct, although the "next to the wall,' phrase clearly belongs to "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship', and nor to "Riddles wisely Expounded." Actually, Barry himself discussed the relationship of the Child F variant of Riddles Wisely Expounded" to Child 46 in BFSSNE, X, 9. For further bibliographical references, see coffin, 29-30 (American) and Dean-Smith, 84 (English) .
A. There Was a Man Lived in the West. As sung by Mrs. Hattie Erdredge Eldred, of Hardwick, Vermont. Learned from her father, Sylvester Eldredge, born in Bakersfield, Vermont. Mrs. Eldred, feels sure he learned, this ballad from hearing it sung by his parents. M. Olney, Collector; May 12, 1955
Structure: A1 B C A2(tr) Da E F (2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2) ; internal refrains; Rhythm B; contour: arc; scare: hexatonic (but A only before final tone); t.c. B-flat. Related tunes in several Child ballads, but our tune is a simpler version than most: DV, 555, No. 56; Sharp 1, 34(L) .
There Was a Man Lived in the West- Hattie Eldredge Hardwick
[music upcoming] arranged Tr. M. O.
There was an old man lived in the West.
Blow-down, bow down,
Your bow shall bend to me.
There was an old man lived in the West,
He had three daughters of the best.
So true to my love, as I love,
My love proves true to me.
The oldest daughter, she let him in
And pinned the gate with a silver pin.
The second daughter pulled off his boors
And hung them on a silver hook.
The youngest daughter, she lie with him,
He turned to her and she turned to him.
He said, "You must answer my questions three
Or you shall go to Hell with me!"
Says she, "I will answer your questions three,
If you will answer as many for me!"
"What is higher than the trees?
What is deeper than the seas?"
"Heaven is higher than the trees,
Hell is deeper than the seas."
"What is sharper than a thorn?
What is louder than a thorn?"
"Hunger is sharper than a thorn
And shame is louder than a thorn."
"What is whiter than the milk
And what is softer than the silk?"
"Oh, snow is whiter than the milk
And down is softer than the silk."
"What is greener than the grass?
What is . . . (somewhere in here are verses that show how she discovered his name, then . .")
As soon as she had found his name,
He flew away in a raging flame.