US & Canada Versions 8B. The Courting Case or Courting Cage Roud 361, "The Drunkard's Courtship" (Chappell/Foss); "The Gambling Suitor" (Shifflett from Clayton & Ritchie); "Kind Sir, I See You've Come Again"; "O Miss, I Have A Very Fine Farm," "If You Will Only Be My Bride," "Kind Miss," "Gordonsville," "The Wooing," "I'll Have No Drunkard to Please,"
["The Courting Case" or "The Courting Cage" are two titles of a courting dialogue ballad similar to, or based on, "Madam, I Have Come to Court You." Instead of offering gold and silver, the wooer offers a farm and farm animals in exchange for marriage. His intended bride however knows him to be a gambler and drunkard and refuses his offers. At the end, the wooer says that when she grows old and is chilled with cold, he hopes she will freeze. In different variants her response is varied-- usually she says she'll find someone else to keep her warm. In a version from Michigan titled, "The Wooing," she replies: "It won't be you that'll keep me warm!"
Both the two main titles, "The Courting Case" or "The Courting Cage," are mondegreens[1] from an unknown earlier print version. The title, "The Courting Cage" creates an aura of mystery as if the courting couple are combatants. Their combat, however, is only verbal sparring in a dialogue. The "cage" represents a misheard lyric about courting from a print made many, many years ago-- a print that is now missing. In Vance Randolph's version[2], the "cage" more than a courting technique, it is a physical object:
Madam I have a courtin' cage
It stands in yonder town,
And my estate I'll give to you,
If it be ten thousand pounds,
If it be ten thousand pounds.
This unusual lyric is not just one isolated example. A similar version was collected by Cecil Sharp whose master title is taken from an 1918 version by Fanny Coffee[3]:
O madam, I am a courting case,
For you I've lain in woon,
For you I'd give up all my store,
If it was ten thousand pounds.
Both Randolph's and Sharp's version fail to provide clues about the identity of the misheard lyric. I am using Sharp's master title "Courting Case" and all versions here after are generically referred to as "Courting Case." My suggestion that the original text is "courtin' come" is no better than the rest. Until the missing British or early America broadside or print text is discovered, the mystery may never be solved.
One area in southwest Virginia encompassing Albemarle and Greene Counties and surrounding area has been a known repository for the ballad after it was collected by Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles who visited the area in May/June of 1918. There, they collected three full versions of text and several partial versions. This is the area the late George Foss wrote about in his article, "From White Hall to Bacon Hollow." The settlers from the region are from the Virginia colony who founded Jamestown and the areas along the James River. While the early date of Courting case can't easily be ascribed it seems likely that it is of unknown British print origin probably in the 1700s. Since no British versions have been found-- it can only be verified to be 'early' American. How early is a point of conjecture-- two versions have been traced to the 1860s- one in Missouri and one in Michigan. The ballad age therefore would be late Colonial to early 1800s in America. The early versions would have been disseminated from Canada, New England and Appalachia (through Virginia).
The earliest reported version is from Michigan. "The Wooing" was sung in 1934 by Mr. E. W. Harns, Greenville, who learned the song in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, about 1860. Here is the full text from Ballads & Songs of Southern Michigan, 1939, version A:
1 "Madam, I have come to marry you
And settle in this town;
My whole estate is worth
Ten thousand pounds.
Which I will will to you,
If you will be my bride."
2 "O that's enough for me,
I don't desire you."
3 "O madam, I have a very fine house,
All neat and rectified,
Which you may have at your command
If you'll but be my bride."
4 "I know you have a very fine house
Besides a clever barn,
But you're too old to think to hold
A bird with a single yarn."
5 "O madam, I have a very fine horse,
Whose face is like the tide,
Which you may have at your command
If you'll but be my bride."
6 "I know you have a very fine horse,
Which you keep in yonders barn,
But his master likes a glass of wine
For fear his horse might learn."
7 "O madam, I have a very fine field,
Full fifty acres wide,
Which you may have at your command
If you'll but be my bride."
8 "I know you have a very fine field
And a pasture at the foot,
And if I had you, I'd turn you in,
For I'm sure a hog would root."
9 "O madam, you are a scornful dame
And very hard to please,
And when you get old and pinched with cold,
I swear I hope you'll freeze."
10 "And when I get old and pinched with cold,
'Twon't be you'll keep me warm;
I'll be single and be free
And stay as I was born."
The lady obviously knows the wooer well. In most versions he is revealed as card-playing roustabout and drinker. The other early version is Randolph's "The Courting Cage" which he collected in Missouri in 1928 but was learned about 1865:
"The Courting Cage"
Madam I have a courtin' cage
It stands in yonder town,
And my estate I'll give to you,
If it be ten thousand pounds,
If it be ten thousand pounds.
I know you have a courtin' cage
It stands in yonder town,
And your estate I do not want,
If it be ten thousand pounds,
If it be ten thousand pounds.
O madam, I've a very fine house
Just newly erectified,
And you shall have it at your command
Whenever you'll be my bride
Whenever you'll be my bride.
I know you have a very fine house
Likewise a fine yard,
But who would stay at home with me,
When you're out playing cards
When you're out playing cards.
Madam, I do not do that way,
I do not think it right.
If you'll consent to marry me
I'll stay home every night
I'll stay home every night.
Madam, I have a very fine horse,
He paces like the tide,
An' you may have him at your command,
Whenever you'll be my bride,
Whenever you'll be my bride.
I know you have a very fine horse,
He stands in yonder barn,
His master likes a glass of wine,
I fear the horse might learn,
I fear the horse might learn.
Madam, I have a very fine farm,
Full sixty acres wide,
An' you may have it at your command,
Whenever you'll be my bride,
Whenever you'll be my bride.
I know you have a very fine farm,
A pasture at the foot,
If you'll get me you'll turn me out,
I know a hog will root,
I know a hog will root.
Madam, I think you're a silly jade
Perhaps too hard to please;
When you git old an' chill with cold,
I swear I hope you'll freeze,
I swear I hope you'll freeze.
Your sassy wishes I disregard,
You caint do me no harm
When I git old an' chill with cold,
It won't be you that'll keep me warm,
It won't be you that'll keep me warm!
Randolph, of course, knew of Sharp's versions titled "Courting Case" published in the 1932 edition of EFSSA. His version was first printed by Scarborough in 1938. The most unusual version is this modern analogue from Douglas Gilbert in "Lost Chords: The Diverting Story of American Popular Songs" published by Doubleday, Doran and Company, Incorporated, 1942. No information was provided about this song which appears in the chapter on "The Hearth — and the Tavern":
"The Girl Who Never Would Wed"
I courted a round-bottomed lass one spring
The birds were mating free,
The sheep and the goats
Were feeling their oats—
But she would have none of me.
When summer came and fields were filled
With scent of new mown hay,
The weather was hot, but she was not,
For still she said me nay,
For still she said me nay.
The summer went and autumn came,
And when the nights were chill,
We sat beside the fire in
Her house behind the hill.
'Twas then I said,
Two in a bed
Could warm and cozy be.
I pinched her rump, but up she jumped—
Says she, young man you're too free,
Says she, young man you're too free.
When winter came said I, why do
You choose to sleep alone;
And in single bed
Lay like one dead
As cold as any stone?
I offered her my house and lands
And all my worldly self
With arms so strong to keep her warm-
Says she, keep your arms to yourself.
For years and years I roamed about
And when I had my fill,
I found this girl a woman grown,
But she refused me still.
So when you are old and gray,
And shattery in the knees,
When the wintry blast wintry blast rolls round your rump,
I hope by Jesus you freeze,
I hope by Jesus you freeze.
This modern recreation, clearly based on Courting Cage, may have been penned by the author, Douglas Gilbert. Unfortunately I have no information of its pedigree. The last line is part of the standard penultimate stanza where the rejected wooer lashes out at his intended. This stanza in particular has been found in versions of "Madam, I Have Come to Court You" as found in this Michigan version:
B. The Spanish Maiden- sung in 1931 by Mr. Clarence C. Chickering, Belding, MI.
1 Yonder stands a handsome maiden;
Who she is, I do not know;
But I'll go court her for a beauty
And let her answer yes or no.
Whack for the law I-do I-doddy,
Whack for the law I-do I-day.
2 "My fair maiden, I've come a-courtin'
Some kind favor for to win;
If you'll only entertain me,
I'm quite sure I'll come again.
3 "Madam, I have ships on the ocean,
Madam, I have houses and land;
Madam, I have gold and silver,
And all shall be at your command."
4 "What care I for your ships on the ocean?
What care I for your houses and land?
What care I for your gold and silver?
All care I is a handsome young man."
5 "Madam, you are very saucy;
Madam, you are hard to please.
When you grow old, and the weather grows cold,
I hope to God that you will freeze."
I've included the complete text to show how the "freeze" stanza was added to this version of "Madam" which Gardner and Chickering presumably titled, "Spanish Lady" after Cox's 1925 version[4]. This baffling title is another example of the complete confusion among most collectors regarding "Madam" and its relatives-- of which "Courting Case" is only one of my appendices. The relationship of "Courting Case" and "Madam" is similar to the relationship of "Quaker's Courtship" and "Madam." Both "Courting Case" and Quaker's Courtship" are clearly similar to, or based on, "Madam," but both have different courting dialogues. Both are found only in the North America[5] and both probably originated in the late 1700s or early 1880s.
Although there are some indicators that Courting Case is British (the unit of money is "pounds," the wooer goes to a "grog shop" etc.) several other terms seem odd-- the very fine house for example was erected but the word used is a slang, "rectified" or "erectified."
For now the mystery of the Courting Case origin is unsolved and it must be classified as early American. Whether British or American in origin, the courting Case was probably based on a late 1700s print version that has disappeared.
R. Matteson 2017]
_____________________________________
Footnotes:
1. A mondegreen is defined as a misunderstood or misinterpreted word or phrase resulting from a mishearing of the lyrics of a song.
2. "The Courting Cage" sung Mrs. Judy Jane Whitaker of Anderson, Missouri learned from her mother about 1865. From Randolph, Ozark Folk Songs, (1946) collected May 10, 1928.
3. "Courting Case." Sung by Mrs. Fanny Coffey at White Rock, Nelson Co., Va., May 8th, 1918. From Sharp's EFSSA, 1932 edition.
4. Spanish Lady or Maiden is a name derived from the reworked stanzas of an old English Bawdy song. The name Spanish lady is not found in the original. The two rewritten stanzas with Spanish Lady have been attached as an opening to some versions (the Scottish, for example) of "Madam I Have Come to Court You." These variants I've labeled Spanish Lady I-V. In "Spanish Lady IV" the name "Spanish Lady" is found replacing "lovely creature" in a number of "Madam" versions including at least one children's game song. However, in the Michigan version titled "Spanish Maiden" there is no mention of "Spanish Lady" or "Spanish Maiden" in this version.
5. This is true except for Baring Gould's version titled, Quaker's Song, which resembles versions of Quaker's Courtship.
_____________________________
CONTENTS: (To access individual texts click on the highlighted blue title or on the title attached to this page on the left-hand column).
1) The Wooing- E. W. Harns (MI) c.1860 Gardner A
2) The Courting Cage- Judy Whitaker (MO) 1865 Randolph
3) The Courting Case- Fanny Coffey (VA) 1918 Sharp A
Kind Miss- Bertha Bryant (VA) 1918 Sharp MS
Gordonsville- Laura V. Donald (VA) 1918 Sharp MS
Kind Miss- James H. Chisholm (VA) 1918 Sharp MS
Madam, I Have a Very Fine Cow- (NC) 1915 Greer
I See You Come Again- Gibson (NC) 1918 Sharp MS
Gordonville- Mrs. Lawson Grey (VA) 1918 Sharp B
If You Will Only Be My Bride- Midgett (NC) 1920
Kind Sir I See You've Come Again- Robbins(NC) 1922
Gordonsville- (NC) 1922 The Union Republican
Drunkard's Courtship- Etheridge (NC) 1924 Chappell
Kind Sir- Mr. Austen (VA) 1931 Scarborough A
Bachelor's Song- Williams/Gullett (KY) 1933 Thomas
Madam, I Have a Very Fine Field- Blake (VT) 1935
Madam I Have a Fine Little Horse- Swetnam(MS) 1936
Madam, I Have a Very Fine Horse- Clark (MS) 1936
Madam, I Have A Very Fine Farm- Hoskins (KY) 1937
Madam, I Have a Very Fine Farm- Allen (CA) 1940
Kind Sir- Texas Gladden (VA) 1941 Lomax REC
The Girl Who Never Would Wed- (NY) Gilbert 1942
Drunkard's Courtship- Zona Baker(AR) 1946 Garrison
I'll Have No Drunkard to Please- Hester (AL) 1947
Kind Madam- Frances Oxford (AR) 1951 Parler A
Gambling Suitor- Ella Shifflet (VA) 1956 Chase
Miss, I Have a Very Fine Farm- Maguire (AR) 1959
Sir, I See You Comin' Again- McAllister (VA) 1958
The Lovers' Quarrel- (MO) 1959 Cansler REC
Courtin' Song- Pleaz & Olive Mobley (KY) 1960 REC
Courting Song- Otis Williams (AR) c.1962 Hunter A
Drunkard's Courtship- Horton Barker (VA) 1962 REC
Miss, I Have a Very Fine Horse- Crumpler (SC) 1963
Madam, I Have Come to Court- Clark (ON) 1964
The Courting Case- Armstrong/Jones (NC) 1965 REC
Courtin' Song- Winters (TN) 1966 Burton/Manning
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ADD: D03A - archival cassette dub from digitized archival cassette in the Helen Hartness Flanders Ballad Collection at Middlebury College Special Collections & Archives (side B)
Track 15 : [fragment] Quaker's Wooing - voice performance by Elmer George at N Montpelier (Vt.). Dated 1940.
[Courting Case] Quaker's Wooing- George Elmer (VT) 1940 Flanders https://archive.org/details/HHFBC_tapes_D03A/D03A+sideB.mp3
Madam, I've come to marry you,
And settle in this town,
My whole estate I will to you,
Tis worth ten thousand pound, pounds,
Tis worth ten thousand pounds.
---------------
ADD: Track 14 : Ancient Courtship (Quaker's Wooing) - voice performance by George E & Daniels M at E Calais (Vt.). Dated 11-09-1939. https://archive.org/details/HHFBC_tapes_D08B/D08B+sideB.mp3
Madam, I've come to marry you,
And settle in this town,
My whole estate I will to you,
Tis worth ten thousand pound, pounds,
Tis worth ten thousand pounds.
Your whole estate you will to me,
As you pretend to do,
I have enough, enough for me
I don't desire you, you,
I don't desire you
---------------
ADD: [fragment] Track 07b : Madam I Have a Very Fine Field - voice performance by A R Blake at White River Jun (Vt.). Dated 1935. https://archive.org/details/HHFBC_tapes_C07A/C07A+sideB.mp3
-----------------
Ozark Folk Song Collection
Transcript Collected by Ruth Jolly and Don Stone For Mary C. Parler Transcribed by Frances Majors
Reel 263, Item 13
Courting- Sung by Otis Williams Wesley, Arkansas December 4, 1958
Madam, I have come a-courting,
And some favors for to gain. If you will entertain me very kindly, I soon will come again, again, I soon will come again. Yes, I know you've come a-courting, And some favors for to gain. I'll entertain you very kindly, If you'll never come again, again, If you'll never come again. Madam, I have a very fine field, Fourteen acres wide; And it shall be at your command If you will be my bride, bride, If you will be my bride. Oh, yes, I know you've a very fine field With clover at the foot. If you were mine I would turn you in, For I'm sure a hog would root, root, For I'm sure a hog would root. Madam, I've come to marry you And settle in your t o w n. I'll will to you my whole estate Worth ten thousand pounds, pounds, 'Tis worth ten thousand pounds. If you will will to me your whole estate, As you design to do, I'll have enough of everything,
And what'd I want of you, you,
And what'd I want of you.
Madam, you are a scornful jade
And somewhat hard to please.
When you grow old and killed with cold,
I hope that you will freeze, freeze, I hope that you will freeze. Courting (Cont'd) Reel 263, Item 13 (Cont'd) When I grow old and killed with cold And not you there to keep me warm, Therefore, I think it my very be
----------------
Southern Folklore Quarterly - Volume 5 (No. 3)- Page 183 [no informant named]
https://books.google.com/books?id=QTtLAAAAYAAJ- 1941 -
[missing]
3. O Madam, I have a very fine farm;
It's eighty acres square,
And you can have it at your own command
If you will be my bride, bride,
If you will be my bride.
4. O yes, I know you have a very fine farm
And it's eighty acres square,
But if you were a hog of mine,
I'd turn you out to root, root,
I'd turn you out to root.
5. O madam, I have a house and lot,
And it stands in the heart of town;
I'll deed it to you at your command
If you will be my bride, bride,
If you will be my bride.
I know you have a house and lot,
And it stands in the heart of town,
But before I'd consent to marry you,
I'd rather wed a clown, clown,
I'd rather wed a clown.
O madam, you are a selfish maid
And very hard to please;
And when you grow old and chill with cold,
I don't care if you freeze, freeze,
I don't care if you freeze.
-----------
Lost Chords: The Diverting Story of American Popular Songs
Douglas Gilbert
Doubleday, Doran and Company, Incorporated, 1942
"The Girl Who Never Would Wed"
I courted a round-bottomed lass one spring
The sheep and the goats
Were feeling their oats—
But she would have none of me.
When summer came and fields were filled
With scent of new mown hay,
The weather was hot, but she was not,
For still she said me nay,
For still she said me nay.
The summer went and autumn came,
And when the nights were chill,
We sat beside the fire in
Her house behind the hill.
'Twas then I said, two in a bed
Could warm and cozy be.
I pinched her rump, but up she jumped—
Says she, young man you're too free,
Says she, young man you're too free.
When winter came said I, why do
You choose to sleep alone;
And in single bed, lay like one dead
As cold as any stone?
I offered her my house and lands
And all my worldly pelf
With arms so strong to keep her warm-
Says she, keep your arms to yourself.
For years and years I roamed about
And when I had my fill
------------------------
Todd Fitzpatrick CD [Source?]
WOMAN:
O sir, I see you coming again, pray
tell me what it’s for!
When we said goodbye the other night
I told you to come no more, no more,
I told you to come no more.
MAN:
O miss, I have a very fine house,
it’s newly built with pine,
And you may have it at your command,
If you will be my bride, my bride,
if you will be my bride.
WOMAN:
O sir, I know it’s a very fine house,
and also a very fine yard.
But who will stay with me at night
When you’re down at the barroom
playing cards, at the barroom playing cards.
MAN:
O miss, I don’t play cards at night,
I never thought it right.
If you consent to be my bride,
I’ll stay away nary a night, a night,
I’ll stay away nary a night.
WOMAN:
Kind sir, I know the meaning of that,
it’s just to take me in.
When you get me at your command,
You’ll gamble and drink again, again,
you’ll gamble and drink again.
MAN:
O miss, I have a very fine farm,
it’s sixty acres wide.
And you shall have it at your command
If you will be my bride, my bride,
if you will be my bride.
WOMAN:
O sir, I know it’s a very fine farm
and full of very fine fruit,
When I get in I’ll turn you out,
And keep you out, to boot, to boot,
and keep you out to boot.
MAN:
O miss, I have a very fine horse,
it paces like the tide.
If you say yes and marry me,
you can have my horse to ride,
to ride, you can have my horse to ride
WOMAN:
O sir, I know your very fine horse,
the horse that knows no harm,
His master drinks and gambles so,
I’m afraid that his horse might learn,
might learn, I’m afraid that his
horse might learn.
MAN/WOMAN:
Well miss/sir, you don’t/won’t
like me at all, I think it’s very plain,
I’ll marry whom I please
and you can go and do the same,
and you can go and do the same.
---------------
Missing versions:
Kind Miss- Lunsford AFS 01827 B01 and AFS 09487 B01 (AFS Number) 1935 and 1947, from Ruth Caldwell Campobello, South Carolina]
----------
Joseph Able Trivett , Folk Legacy FSA 002, LP (1962), trk# 12 [1961/09] (Root, Poor Hoggie)
Name: Joseph Able Trivett; Sex: M; Birth: APR 1882 in , Watauga, NC; ALIA: ... He was recorded at age 82 with Folk Legacy records.
------------
Gamblin' Billy
Roud Folksong Index (S235656)
First Line:
Source: WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.243 (version b)
Performer: Quinn, Hattie
Date: 1940 (8 Jan)
Place: USA : Virginia : Ferrum
Collector: Sloan, Raymond H.
----------
Gamblin' Billy
Roud Folksong Index (S235655)
First Line:
Source: WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.243 (version a)
Performer: Wagoner, Mrs. Alice
Date: 1939 (7 Aug)
Place: USA : Virginia : Endicott
Collector: Sloan, Raymond H.
-------------
Madame I've Come A-courting
Roud Folksong Index (S374932)
First Line:
Source: Knox, Folksogs from the Olympic Peninsula & Puget Sound (1945) p.78
Performer:
Date: 1945c
Place: USA : Washington : Olympic Peninsula
If You Will Be My Bride
Roud Folksong Index (S239526)
First Line: Madam I have a very fine house
Source: Library of Congress: Archive of American Folk Culture 2719 A2
Performer: Floyd, Mrs. Minnie
Date: 1939 (8) Jun
Place: USA : S. Carolina : Murrells Inlet
Collector: Lomax, John A. & Ruby T.
Roud No: 361
Collector: Knox, Winifred I.
-------------
Bulletin - Volumes 48-50 - Page 121
https://books.google.com/books?id=O0pLAAAAYAAJ
Tennessee Folklore Society - 1982
Walnut Cove, NC, 1937. MADAM I HAVE A VERY FINE HORSE. Sung by Nan Jones (piano). Walnut Cove, NC, 1937.