Fie-lillie, Fie-lillie; Wade (VT) 1800s Flanders B
[The date certainly goes back to the 1800s since Roberts sent it in 1947 and it was from his great-grandmother. Her source would take it back further to the early 1800s.]
Flander's 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 miny 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 In 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.
Flander's B. Sent by Mr. Owen S. Roberts, of River Street Rear, Troy, New York, formerly of Dorset, Vermont. He writes: "I am sending you my Great-grandmother's favorite song, 'Fie -Lillie, Fie-Liilie, Fie Lee, Fie-down.' I never heard anyone but my Great-grandmother sing this song; therefore it must be very old, and perhaps this is the only copy of it in existence. I do hope that you will find it suitable for your collection, that it may be preserved for future generations in remembrance of her, Lilla Jachson Wade, born and, buried in Mount Holly, Vermont." H. H. F., Collector March 17, 1947
Fie-Liilie, Fie-Lillie, Fie-Lee , Fie-Down
There was an old farmer
Who owned a small farm,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
He had no horses to carry it on,
From a-scratch-a-fie-lee,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
So he hitched up his hogs
And away he did plow.
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
This way, and that way,
The devil knows how,
From a-scratch-a-fie-lee,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
One day he saw the old devil a-coming,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
He thought he was after his oldest son,
From a-scratch-a-fie-lee,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
"Oh, it's not your oldest son,
But your old scolding wife,"
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
"O take her, O take her, and hoping to God that you never will part,"
From a-scratch-a-fie-lee,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
Oh, the old devil, he slung her across his back,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down,
And down through hell he went, snappity-crack,
From a-scratch-a-fie-lee,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
Oh, when he got to hell's great door,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
He said, "Lay there, you old fool, I'll carry you no more,"
From a-scratch-a-fie-lee,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
Oh, she heard the old devil preparing his chains,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
she up with her foot and kicked out half of his brains,
From a-scratch-a-fi e-lee,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie down.
One little devil said, "Hitch her up higher,"
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
She up with her foot and kicked nine into the fire,
From a-scratch-fie-lee,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
One little devil peeked over the wall,
Fie-lillie-fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
Said, "Carry her back, or she'll kill us all,"
From a-scratch-a-fie-lee,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
The old devil, he slung her across his back,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
And like a broad-peddler, went tuggin' her back,
From a-scratch-a-fie-lee,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
"Oh, my old wife, she's done very well,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down.
She's killed all the devils, and conquered all hell,
From a-scratch-a-fie-lee,
Fie-lillie, fie-lillie, fie-lee, fie-down."