US & Canadian Versions: 31 A. The Half-Hitch
[This ballad called an "old English ballad" is old, probably dating to the 1700s in the US and is likely of English origin but has not been reported in England. It has been collected in the US in Vermont (Flanders, also Sturgis), New York (Thompson), Idaho (Cheney) and Maine (Barry). The versions by Pierce (learned from her father who was born in 1837) and Atwood- by inference- date back to 1800s.
It has been attached because of its similar theme to Child 31 (The Marriage of Sir Gawain) by Bronson and collectors Phillip Barry and Helen Flanders. Bronson lists it as 31 A or an appendix to Child 31 in his The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads. Barry in BBM lists it as a secondary form.
Below are the extant collected versions. All versions are fairly consistent which points to a possible printed broadside, not recovered. Additional notes are found after the listed versions. Cheney's notes may be found on the Avery (ID) 1933 page.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
CONTENTS: The individual texts may be accessed by clicking on the blue title link or to the versions attached to this page on the left hand column.
1) The Half Hitch- Chase (VT) c.1850 Flanders B-- My date, based on the age of the informant who was born circa 1834. From Vermont Folk-Songs & Ballads, 236, Flanders, and Ancient Ballads, 1966. This text was sent and Flanders kept the original spelling.
2) Cabbage & Meat Song- Pierce (VT) c1867 Flanders A-- From Flanders, Ballads Migrant to New England and also Ancient Ballads, 1966, version A, with music. Mrs. W. E. Pierce, Town Clerk of Northam, a part of Shrewsbury, Vermont, sang this song handed down through her father, J. K. Spaulding, born in 1837, who was postmaster at West Bridgewater, Vermont, for forty years.
3) The Half Hitch- Atwood (VT) c.1875 Sturgis-- My date. From: Songs from the Hills of Vermont, 1919 Sturgis. This is the earliest collected and published text of The Half- Hitch, a ballad well-known in Vermont. It was was recorded by Pete Seeger on "Story Songs," 1961.
4) The Loathly Bride- Barry (Maine) 1929
5) Old Sheep-Eye- Cobb (VT) 1930 Flanders C
6) The Old Shoe- Avery (ID) 1933 Cheney
7) The Half Hitch- Andrew (NY) pre1939 Thompson
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Notes from Barry, Eckstorm, Smyth, British Ballads From Maine, Yale University Press, 1929:
THE LOATHLY BRIDE
(cf. Child 31)
Ir would be rash to claim that the song which follows is a modernization of the ballad of "The Marriage of Sir Gawain"; but it certainly reproduces features of the medieval tale upon which the ballad was founded. The enchantment of the Arthurian legend is dismissed as out of date in a modern story. In the old tale, a lovely maiden, changed by her stepmother into a frightfully ugly hag, must, in order to regain her rightful shape, marry a man, who will treat her courteously in spite of her hideousness. In the later story, a beautiful girl voluntarily assumes repulsiveness in order to test her lover. Because of her refusing to marry him, her lover in her presence has sworn a hasty oath that he will marry the first woman he sees who will accept him. Quickly disguising herself, the lady puts herself in the way of her lover in the shape of a ragged, dirty harridan, as ill-mannered as she is uncomely, to prove him, whether he will keep his oath or break it. As in so many degraded ballads, what was a serious subject is made into a comic tale.
The modern tale lacks the riddle and answer by which King Arthur's life is safeguarded, and lacks his rather unkingly saving himself by sacrificing the youth, and hopes of his devoted Gawain. Yet some features of the old romance still persist. A vow is made; and it is performed --which is the essence of knighthood. The young man in our story makes his own rash vow and repents it at leisure; but, like a knight, he does not repudiate his obligation. In the ballad of "Sir Gawain" there is a resemblance, which Professor Child has pointed out (I, 290-293,297-298), to certain Danish stories and to the ancient romance of "The Wedding of Sir Gawen and Dame Reynell." The same points- "the monstrous deformity of the woman," her exaggerated
appetite," her preference for public wedding and feasting which the groom would gladly have been spared, the repulsiveness of her ways of eating, the bridegroom's reluctance to embrace her, and her transformation at the wedding into a beautiful woman --mark this Maine text of unknown ancestry. One detail in particular, of the bride's loathliness (A, 11, line 3; compare Child 32 "King Henry," 6, 1), suggests the effect, not of disguise, but of enchantment.
The theme of the marriage of the courteous knight to the loathly maiden is very old, and was used. by romancers and even by the greater poets, as is pointed out in Maynardie's The Wife of Bath's Tale, Its Sources and Analogues. But in this recent text we notice one interesting point in the treatment which connects it with much earlier forms of composition. As sent in to us, the manuscript gave no indication of spoken parts being thrown in. It was not until after we had rearranged the lines to show this, that we saw the only other copy known to us. This also shows the spoken lines. This unusual feature recalls the medieval troubadours, chinsons, and makes it a sort of degenerate cante-fable. Finding this feature in two copies, which could not possibly have any immediate connection, shows that the spoken lines were not an individual caprice.
The other copy of this song referred to was printed in 1919 by Mrs. Edith B. Sturgis and Robert Hughes in their Songs from the Hills of Vermont and gives the harmonized air. In his introduction, Mr. Hughes remarks: "I have been unable find a printed version of the unique and interesting old ballad 'The Half-Hitch" sung by James Atwood." Mr. Hughes's is the only other text we have seen beside the one we give, which was sent in to us by an old man, who entitled it, "The Silk Merchant's Daughter. An old English song." Old and English it must be, but it is not "The Silk Merchant's Daughter." Nor is the Vermont title of "The Half-Hitch" any more satisfactory, referring, as it does, only to the way the lady's petticoats hang. The name we have given points to the medieval background of the tale, where knights in armor ranged in quest of adventure, and relieved distressed damsels by their chivalry. For the single feature that the young man holds his oath as binding, proves the line of descent of the tale.
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Notes from Flanders, Ancient Ballads (Coffin, 1966):
The Half-Hitch
(Laws N23, possibly derived from Child 31)
To call "The Half-Hitch" a form of Child 31, "The Marriage of Sir Gawain," is to stretch the concept of the "secondary ballad" to its limits. At closest, "The Half-Hitch" is a radical reworking of one of the central motifs of the Gawain song. In "The Marriage of sir Gawain" a lovely girl is changed into a hag by a cruel stepmother. To regain her beauty she must marry a man who will be gracious in spite of her repulsiveness. But this is a variation on a single motif from a retold romance that involves Arthur's
attempt to discover what women most desire, Gawain's gallant agreement to marry the foul hag who provides Arthur with the answer, and Gawain's instinctive wisdom in allowing his disgusting bride to decide for herself whether she will be ugly by day or night. "The Half-Hitch', is built on a rash act worthy of a fabliau. A refused lover desperately swears to marry the first woman he meets. His sweetheart, after rejecting him, disguises herself as a hag to test his silly vow. Evidently, she is impressed when he sticks to his word, for all ends happily. That this comic song is the result of urban presses or music halls seems certain. However, Robert Hughes, who printed a text in songs from the Hills of Vermont ([New York, 1919], 50), was unable to locate the original. whether or nor the composer of "The Half-Hitch" knew "The Marriage of sir Gawain" is hard to say. The chances are at least better that he didn't than that he did. surely, efforts such as those by Phillips Barry in British Ballads from Maine,382-85, to relate the song to Child 31 are wishful.
"The Half-Hitch" is not particularly well known in America. It is rather widespread in Vermont and Maine, and shows little variation as it is found in northern New England, but it is not a local song. The opening lines refer to Plymouth and London, England, and it is called "An Old English Song" as it appears on page 384 of British Ballads from Maine.
Child's notes, I, 290 f., give one a good insight into the Arthurian material behind "The Marriage of Sir Gawain," but of course are of no use in treating the American burlesque. One might also be referred to Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale." See Laws, ABBB, 214-15, for a brief bibliography and remarks.