The Farmer's Curst Wife- Ordway (VT) 1945 Flanders I
Flanders' Ancient Ballads- 1965; Notes by Coffin
The Farmer's Curst Wife
(Child 278)
Coffin's notes: There is an old proverb that says there are but two places where a man wants to have his wife- in bed and in the grave. Certainly, the scolding wife, one who can rout the devil himself, has left her mark on folklore from India and Russia to the western countries. This particular anecdote concerning her is a favorite of the American informant with a similar song, "The Devil in search of a wife," it was also popular among the printers of nineteenth-century London broadsides. ["The Sussex Farmer" being close to, or the origin of, Child A. "The Devil in search of a wife" is quite different- see English & Other versions- except for the last few stanzas.]
Originally, it must have concerned a contract in which a farmer hired the devil to do some plowing in exchange for a member of the family. The farmer, in many texts, worries that he may lose his eldest son and is relieved when his wife is taken. The American versions follow Child A as a rule, it being rare that the wife come back to her cooking as in Child B. However, the yoking of the dogs and hogs to the plow and the proverbial sayings at the close of the song are frequently added to the Child A base in the New world.
The Flanders material needs little comment. Texts A and B, in which the farmer seems to be rather proud of his wife's triumph over the forces of hell are not common, though Phillips Barry, British Ballad's from Maine, 330-1, prints an example from Northeast Harbor. Nor are the C-I "Anthony Rowley" texts with the "right leg, left leg," refrains. But C in which the wife is the farmer, harnesses the cattle herself, and goes to the gates of hell, is the only text that introduces a really radical story variation. C is a noteworthy find.
American references for Child 278 may be found in Coffin, 148-50. see also Dean-Smith, 66, and Belden, 94-95, for English citations. Barry, op. cit., 332, cites local uses of the motif in New England.
The tunes for child 278 all belong to one tune family. A large proportion of them are especially closely related; the following tunes are slightly divergent: Ordway, Davis, Weeks, Brackett. The Underhill, Farnham, and Lorette tunes are very similar, as are the Moses and Blake tunes.
For general relationship to the larger group of tunes, see FCBa, 116, 117, 119; DV, 598 No. 46 (c), 599 No. 46 (E) and (F), 601 No. 46 (L); GCM, 373; Sharp I, 215, 278.
Flanders I. As sung by Charles Ordway of Tunbridge, Vermont. He Iearned this ballad from his parents. M. Olney, Collector; July 29, 1945. Structure: A A B C (4,4,4,4); Rhyhm A; Contour: arc; Scale: hexachordal; t.c. B flat. Tr. M. O.
There was an old man and he had him a farm;
O-bree-rant-a-rowley;
There was an old man and he had him a farm;
O-bree-rant-a-rowley;
There was an old man and he had him a farm
And he had no team to carry it on,
To my right leg, left leg, upper leg, under leg,
O-bree-rant-a-rowley.
(Follow pattern of first stanza 1 or all stanzas.)
So he yoked up his dog by the side of his sow,
He yoked up his dog by the side of his sow,
He yoked up his dog by the side of his sow.
The old devil he came to him one day,
Saying, "One of your family I'll take away."
"Pray, it's not my oldest son that you crave;
It's not my oldest son that you crave;
Pray, it's not my oldest son that you crave."
The old devil he took her upon his back
Just like a paddy goes carrying his sack.