No. 283: The Crafty Farmer
[A "bite" is a "trick" pulled on someone. This ballad is closely related to, or part of the "Yorkshire Bite" or "Well Sold the Cow" group of ballads found in the US. In Child 283 the farmer or the "silly old man" outwits the robber. In the "Yorkshire Bite" group (Laws L 1) the (Yorkshire) boy or man is the hero outwitting the robber. In the less common "Maid of Rygate" group of songs (Laws L 2) the heroine is the girl.
Roud (although the index has jumbled versions together) and Laws separate them while Bronson includes them as Groups A, B and C (making a melodic distinction) and Coffin includes them in the "Crafty Farmer" titles. The Traditional Ballad Index also groups the songs together and I will include them as well under 283 instead of creating an appendix or two.
Kittredge, however, didn't agree that the "Yorkshire Bite" was in fact a version of Child 283 and in 1917 he wrote in the JOAFL:
The favorite broadside ballad of "The Yorkshire Bite" or "The Crafty Ploughboy" was duly registered by Child (5: 129) as parallel to "The Crafty Farmer" (No. 283), though not a version of it. [3]
And in the footnote he adds: 3. "The Crafty Farmer" itself has not yet turned up in this country.
His opinion has been noted. A version that met Kittredge's criteria was collected in the US by Cox and published in 1925. Kittredge's statements are perhaps a response, in part, to another Harvard grad Phillips Barry who published the "Yorkshire Bite" in 1910 under the heading "The Carfty Farmer" in the JOAFL. Kittridge supplied "a better version" sent to Child himself for the JOAFL and placed "The Yorkshire Bite" not under Child ballad 283 but as the last ballad covered in his lengthy jOAFL article. Barry et all list it as a secondary ballad in BBFM, which was published in 1929.
R. Matteson 2012]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (The footnotes are found at the end of Child's Narrative)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Text A (Changes for A b- A f found in End-Notes)
5. End-Notes
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: 283. The Crafty Farmer
A. Roud No. 2637: The Crafty Farmer (173 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: 283. The Crafty Farmer (Bronson's music examples and texts)
3. US and Canadian Versions:
4. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A a- A f)
Child's Narrative: 283. The Crafty Farmer
A. a. 'The Crafty Farmer,' Logan, A Pedlar's Pack, p. 126, from a chap-book of 1796; 'The Crafty Miller,' Maidment, Scotish Ballads and Songs, 1859, p. 208, from a Glasgow stall-copy; a stall-copy, printed by M. Randall, Stirling.
b. 'The Yorkshire Farmer,' Kidson, Traditional Tunes, p. 140, from The Manchester Songster, 1792.
c. 'Saddle to Rags,' Dixon, Ancient Poems, etc., p. 126, Percy Society, vol. xvii., taken down from the recitation of a Yorkshire yeoman in 1845.
d. 'The Thief Outwitted,' Notes and Queries, Fourth Series, XI, 112, 1873, taken down by E. McC., Guernsey, "from the recitation of an old woman now in her eighty-second year, who learnt it in her childhood from her father, a laborer from the neighborhood of Yeovil."
e. 'The Silly Old Man,' Baring-Gould and Sheppard, Songs and Ballads of the West, 3d ed., No 18, Part I, p. 38, as sung by the Rev. E. Luscombe, a Devonshire man, about 1850 (Part IV, p. xviii).
f. 'The Silly Old Man,' Miss M. H. Mason's Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs, p. 43, as sung in Devonshire.
An old farmer who is on his way to pay his rent imparts the fact to a gentlemanlike highwayman who overtakes him. The highwayman cautions him not to be too communicative, since there are many thieves on the roads. The old man has no fear; his money is safe in his saddle-bags. At the right time and place the thief bids him stand and deliver. The farmer throws his saddle over a hedge; the thief dismounts to fetch it, and gives his horse to the farmer to hold; the farmer mounts the thief's horse and rides off. The thief hacks the saddle to pieces to get at the bags. Arrived at his landlord's, the farmer opens the thief's portmanteau, and finds in it six hundred pounds. The farmer's wife is made very happy by her husband's report of his performances; the thief's money will help to enlarge her daughter's marriage portion.
This very ordinary ballad has enjoyed great popularity, and is given for that reason and as a specimen of its class. There is an entirely similar one, in which a Norfolk (Rygate, Cheshire) farmer's daughter going to market to sell corn is substituted for the farmer going to pay his rent: 'The Norfolk Maiden,' in The Longing Maid's Garland, of the last century, without place or date;[1] 'The Maid of Rygate,' Logan's Pedlar's Pack, p. 133; The Highwayman Outwitted,' Leigh's Ballads and Legends of Cheshire, p. 267. Another variety is of a Yorkshire boy sent to a fair to sell a cow: 'Yorkshire Bite,' etc., The Turnip-Sack Garland (like The Longing Maid's Garland, one of a collection of Heber's);[2] 'The Yorkshire Bite,' "from a collection of ballads circa 1782," Logan's Pedlar's Pack, p. 131; 'The Crafty Ploughboy,' Ingledew's Ballads and Songs of Yorkshire, p. 209.
For certain ballads in which a country girl, beset by an amorous gentleman, mounts his horse and makes off with his valise or the like, see II, 483, and the page preceding.
'The Politick Squire, or, The Highwaymen catch'd in their own play,' is a ballad of a gentleman who, having been robbed by five highwaymen that then purpose to shoot him, tells them that he is the Pretender, and is taken by them as such to a justice. The squire makes explanations, four of the thieves are hanged, and the fifth, who had shown some mercy, is transported.[3]
Footnotes:
1. Also among the garlands collected by J. Bell, Newcastle, British Museum: the first, 11621. c. 2 (36), and 4 (13); the other, c. 2 (70). The garlands in 4 were printed, according to Bell, by J. White, †1769, or by T. Saint, †1788.
2. Also among the garlands collected by J. Bell, Newcastle, British Museum: the first, 11621. c. 2 (36), and 4 (13); the other, c. 2 (70). The garlands in 4 were printed, according to Bell, by J. White, †1769, or by T. Saint, †1788. [The first two footnotes are the same, appearing as an asterisk * - I've taken the liberty to repeat them. The symbol † appears before the dates but a footnote is not given.]
3. Douce Ballads, III, fol. 78 b., London, Printed and sold at Sympson's Warehouse, in Stonecutter-Street, Fleet-Market.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
This very ordinary ballad has enjoyed great popularity, and is given for that reason and as a specimen of its class.
Child's Ballad Text
'The Crafty Farmer'- Version A a; Child 283 The Crafty Farmer
a. 'The Crafty Farmer,' Logan, A Pedlar's Pack, p. 126, from a chap-book of 1796; 'The Crafty Miller,' Maidment, Scotish Ballads and Songs, 1859, p. 208, from a Glasgow stall-copy; a stall-copy, printed by M. Randall, Stirling.
1 The song that I'm going to sing,
I hope it will give you content,
Concerning a silly old man,
That was going to pay his rent.
2 As he was riding along,
Along all on the highway,
A gentleman-thief overtook him,
And thus to him did say.
3 'Well overtaken!' said the thief,
'Well overtaken!' said he;
And 'Well overtaken!' said the old man,
'If thou be good company.'
4 'How far are you going this way?'
Which made the old man for to smile;
'By my faith,' said the old man,
'I'm just going two mile.
5 'I am a poor farmer,' he said,
'And I farm a piece of ground,
And my half-year's rent, kind sir,
Just come to forty pound.
6 'And my landlord has not been at home,
I've not seen him this twelvemonth or more,
Which makes my rent be large;
I've to pay him just fourscore.'
7 'Thou shouldst not have told any body,
For thieves there's ganging many;
If any should light on thee,
They'll rob thee of thy money.'
8 'O never mind,' said the old man,
'Thieves I fear on no side,
For the money is safe in my bags,
On the saddle on which I ride.'
9 As they were riding along,
The old man was thinking no ill,
The thief he pulled out a pistol
And bid the old man stand still.
10 But the old man provd crafty,
As in the world there's many;
He threw his saddle oer the hedge,
Saying, Fetch it, if thou'lt have any.
11 The thief got off his horse,
With courage stout and bold,
To search for the old man's bag,
And gave him his horse to hold.
12 The old man put 's foot i the stirrup
And he got on astride;
To its side he clapt his spur up,
You need not bid the old man ride.
13 'O stay!' said the thief, 'O stay!
And half the share thou shalt have;'
'Nay, by my faith,' said the old man,
'For once I have bitten a knave.'
14 The thief he was not content,
But he thought there must be bags;
He out with his rusty old sword
And chopt the old saddle in rags.
15 When he came to the landlord's house,
This old man he was almost spent;
Saying, Come, show me a private room
And I'll pay you a whole year's rent.
16 'I've met a fond fool by the way,
I swapt horses and gave him no boot;
But never mind,' said the old man,
'For I got the fond fool by the foot.'
17 He opend this rogue's portmantle,
It was glorious to behold;
There were three hundred pounds in silver,
And three hundred pounds in gold.
18 And as he was riding home,
And down a narrow lane,
He espied his mare tied to a hedge,
Saying, Prithee, Tib, wilt thou gang hame?
19 When he got home to his wife
And told her what he had done,
Up she rose and put on her clothes,
And about the house did run.
20 She sung, and she sung, and she sung,
She sung with a merry devotion,
Saying, If ever our daughter gets wed,
It will help to enlarge her portion.
End-Notes
a. There are some slight verbal differences in the three copies, but none worthy of notice.
b. 1 A song I will sing unto you,
A song of a merry intent,
It is of a silly old man
That went to pay his rent.
That went to pay his rent.
2 And as he was riding along,
A riding along the highway,
A gentleman-thief steps before the old man
And thus unto him he did say.
And thus unto him he did say.
3 'My friend, how dare you ride alone?
For so many thieves there now be;
If any should but light on you,
They 'd rob you of all your money.'
They 'd rob you of all your money.'
4 'If that they should light upon me,
I'm sure they 'd be very ill-sped,
For, to tell you the truth, my kind sir,
In my saddle my money I've hid.'
In my saddle my money I've hid.'
5 So as they were riding along,
And going down a steep hill,
The gentleman-thief slipped before the old man
And quickly he bid him stand still.
And quickly he bid him stand still.
6 The old man, however, being cunning,
As in this world there are many,
He threw the saddle right over the hedge,
Saying, Fetch it if thou wouldst have any.
Saying, Fetch it if thou wouldst have any.
7 The thief being so greedy of money
He thought that of it there'd been bags
Whipt out a rusty old sword
And chopped the saddle to rags.
And chopped the saddle to rags.
8 The old man put his foot in the stirrup
And presently he got astride;
He put the thief's horse to the gallop,
You need not bid the old man ride.
You need not bid the old man ride.
9 'Nay, stay! nay, stay!' says the thief,
'And half the money thou shalt have;'
'Nay, by my troth,' says the old man,
'For once I have cheated a knave.'
'For once I have cheated a knave.'
10 And so the old man rode along,
And went with a merry devotion,
Saying, If ever I live to get home,
'T will enlarge my daughter's portion.
'T will enlarge my daughter's portion.
11 And having arrived at home,
And got there with merry intent,
Says he, Landlord, show me a room,
And I'll pay you your half-year's rent.
And I'll pay you your half-year's rent.
12 They opened the thief's portmanteau,
And from it they took out so bold
A hundred pounds in silver
And a hundred pounds in gold.
And a hundred pounds in gold.
c-f. the traditional copies, were beyond doubt all derived originally from print, c is from a; d-f are from another edition, not recovered, resembling b. This had variations, especially at the beginning and end, of which some specimens will suffice.
d. 1 Oh 't is I that will sing you a song,
A song of merry intent;
'T is about a silly old man
That was going to pay his rent.
2 And as he was riding along,
Along and alone in a lane,
A gentleman-thief overtook him,
And said, Well overtaken, old man!
3 'You're well overtaken, old man,
You're well overtaken by me;'
'Nay, further go,' said the old man,
'I'm not for thy company.'
4, 6 are wanting, as also in e, f, (and in b).
82-4 'He shall but poorly speed,
For all the money I have
In my old saddle 't is hid.'
19, 20 Oh, when that he came home,
His daughter she looked like a duchess,
And his old woman capered for joy,
And danced him a gig on her crutches.
e. 1 Aw come now, I'll sing you a song,
'T is a song of right merry intent,
Concerning a silly old man
Who went for to pay his rent.
2 And as this here silly old man
Was riding along the lane,
A gentleman-thief overtook him,
Saying, Well overtaken, old man!
3 'What, well overtaken, do'y say?'
'Yes, well overtaken,' quoth he;
'No, no,' said the silly old man,
'I don't want thy company.'
82-4 'Why, badly the thief would be sped,
For the money I carry about me
In the quilt o my saddle is hid.'
19, 20 Aw, when to his home he were come,
His daughter he dressd like a duchess,
And his ol woman kicked and she capered for joy,
And at Christmas danced jigs on her crutches.
f. Resembles d, e in the passages cited.