The Old Scolding Wife- Lorette (VT) 1930 Flanders A
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.
Flander's A. Recorded in Manchester Center, Vermont, from the singing of Paul Lorette, who learned this song from his brother, James Lorette, who learned, it in the lumber woods near Ottawa, Canada. George Brown, Collector; September 23, 1930. Structure: A B C D E (2,2,2,3,3); Rhythm A; Contour: undulating; Scale: hexatonic t.c. C.
The Old Scolding Wife
There was an old man and he had a small farm,
Fi-lee, fi-liddy, fi-low.
There was an old man and he had a small farm
And he had no horse to carry it on,
To me scratcher, fi-lee,
Fi-lee, fi-lee, fi-liddy, fi-low.
(Follow same pattern for all stanzas.)
So he harnessed the pig and he bridled the sow,
And away he went, the devil knows how.
The old devil he came across the lot,
"It ain't you that I want; it's your old scolding wife."
"It ain't you that I want; it's your old scolding wife."
"Oh, take her, oh, take her out of my way."
The old devil he swung her acrost his back
And he went to hell kersnipperty crack.
She heard the old devil preparing his change;
She up with her foot and kicked out his brains.
Nine little devils peeped over the wall;
She up with her foot and killed 'em all.
One more little devil peeped over the wall;
Said he, "Carry her back, or she'll kill us all."
The old devil swung her acrost his back
And he went through hell kersnipperty crack.
When he got there to the hell's great door,
Says he, "You damned hag, I shan't carry you no more."
"It's my old scolding wife; she has done very well;
She has killed nineteen devils and conquered hell."