The Old Man Under the Hill- Byrd (VA) 1885 Davis J
[This is the only local title given by Davis and his collectors.]
46. THE FARMER'S CURST WIFE- Traditional Ballads of Virginia
(Child, No. 278)
Davis' Notes: The ballad is represented by fifteen texts and six tunes in the Virginia archives, Of these, thirteen texts and all six tunes are here printed. Most of the Virginia texts show a likeness to the Child A version, but some exhibit features found only in Child B. It is clear that both versions are represented, with many interesting variations, not least in the philosophical stanza or stanzas at the end. The tripping tunes, some of them with a whistled burden, fit perfectly the comic story of the ballad, which is thus summarized by Child: "The devil comes for a farmer's wife and is made welcome to her by the husband. The woman proves to be no more controllable in hell than she had been at home; she kicks the imps about, and even brains a set of them with her pattens or a maul. For safety's sake, the devil is constrained to take her baik to her husband." The moral of the tale is often pointed. "The Old Man under the Hill" seems to be the only unusual Virginia title; it is not, of course, the usual song of that name, though the title of that song may have been appropriated.
The material here given more than doubles the American store of this ballad. Other American references are Barry, No. 28; Belden, No. 13 (fragment); Bulletin, Nos. 4-6, 8-10; Campbell and Sharp, No. 34 (North Carolina, Virginia); Cox, No. 30; Journal, XIX, 298 (Belden, Missouri);- XXIV, 348 (Barry, Massachusetts, fragment, Maine), XXVII, 68 (Barry, Massachusetts); XXX, 329 (Kittredge, Missouri, fragments); Mackenzie, Ballads, No. 15; Sharp, Songs, 11, No. 3 (Kentucky). For additional references, see Cox, p. 164; Journal, XXX, 329.
J. "The Old Man under the Hill." Reported by Miss Martha M. Davis. Contributed by Mrs. J. C. Byrd, of Harrisonburg, Va., Rockingham County. April 1, 1915. Mrs. Byrd "learned it from a young girl, she thinks, in Page County, about thirty years ago." (Miss Davis).
1. There was an old man lived under the hill,
Tra-la-la-le-la-le,
And if he's not dead, he's living there still,
Tra-la-la-le-la-le.
2 His wife she would not say her prayers,
So he picked her up and threw her downstairs.
3 The devil came in while saying his prayers;
He said, "Come along and go with me."
4 He took her up on his old back,
Just like a pedlar shouldering his pack.
5 He took her up to his old gate,
And said, "Get you in there, you old bald pate." [1]
6 And when they found what he had there,
They said, "Take her out, dad, she'll kill us all here."
7 This shows that women are worse than men,
For they go to hell and are kicked out again.
Footnote:
1. pate= top of the head