The Farmer's Curst Wife- Davis (VT) 1939 Flanders E
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 E. Asa Davis of Milton, Vermont, learned this from his father, Joel Davis, of Duxbury, Vermont. H. H. F., Collector June 23, 1939; Structure: A B1 B2 C D E (2,2,2,2,2,2); Rhythm A; Contour: undulating; Scale: major t.c. D.
The Farmer's Curst Wife
The old devil he came to the farmer one day,
Over bree-bret and a roe-ly,
The devil he came to the farmer one day,
Saying, "I must have one of your familee."
With his right leg, left leg, upper leg, under leg,
Over bree-bret and a roe-ly.
(Follow pattern of first stanza 1 or all stanzas.)
"Oh," cries the old farmer, "I'm all undone,
For the devil's come after my oldest son."
It is[1] not your oldest son, I pray,
But your damned old scolding wife. I'll have her."
"Oh, take her, oh, take her, with all of my heart,
And I hope to God you'll never part."
The old devil he slung her into his sack
And back to hell he went clickety clack.
The devils began to rattle their chains;[2]
She up with her foot and she kicked out their brains.
There was a young devil had on a blue cap;
She up with her foot and she ended that.
There was a little devil peeped over the wall,
Saying, "Carry her back, Daddy, she'll kill us all."
The old devil he slung her into his sack
And like an old fool he went tugging her back.
You see that the women are worse than the men,
For they'll git into hell and they git out again.
Footnotes:
1. " 'Tis" when Miss Olney did a retake on May 8, 1943.
2 "began for to rattle" in the retake.