The Old Man A-Jogging the Plow- Kennison (VT) 1930 Flanders O
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 O. Recorded in Townshend, Vermont, from the singing of Josiah S. Kennison, who learned this song from his wife's
father, James W. Adams of Johnson, Vermont. George Brown, Collector; August 25, 1930
Structure: A B1 A B2 C3 (2,2,2,2,2); Rhythm A; Contour: undulating; Scale: hexatonic; t.c. B flat.
The Old Man A-Jogging the Plow
There was an old man a-jogging a plow,
Fi-lay, fi-lily fi-lum.
There was an old man a-jogging a plow;
He saw the old devil coming over the clough,
Fi-lay, fi-lily fi-lum.
(Follow pattern of first stanza for all stanzas.)
Then cries the old man, "I am undone,
The devil's come after my oldest son."
" 'Tis not your oldest son I crave;
It's your damned old scolding wife I'll have."
Then cries the old man, "Take her with all my heart,
That you and she shall never part."
The old devil he mounted her on his back;
He looked like a pedlar carrying his pack.
He carried her up to the gates of hell,
And set her up there and swore she looked well.
She saw the old devil preparing his change;
She up with her foot and kicked out his brains.
The young devils they all began to squall,
Saying, "Carry her back or she'll kill us all."
Then cries the old devil, "Let's mount her up higher,"
And she up with her foot and kicked nine in the fire.
The old devil he mounted her on his back
And like a damned fool went carrying her back.
He carried her to the man a-jogging the plow,
Saying, "Here is your wife; I can't keep her now."
The old woman went swearing all over the hill,
Saying, "If the devil won't keep me I don't know who will."