The Old Sheepskin- Darling (IN) 1935 Brewster B
Brewster: Ballads and Songs of Indiana
23. THE WIFE WRAPT IN WETHER'S SKIN
(Child, No. 277)
Three texts of this ballad have been recovered in Indiana, under the following titles: "Dandoo," "Dan-Doodle-Dan," and "The Old Sheepskin." The Child title does not appear.
For American texts, see Belden, No. 12 (fragment); Brown, p. 9; Campbell and Sharp, No. 33; Child, V, 304; Cox, No. 29; Davis, p. 497; Hudson, No. 21; Hudson, Folksongs, p. 123; Journal, VII, 253; XIX, 298; XXIX, 109; XXX, 328; Pound, Ballads, No. 6; Shearin and Combs, p. 8 (fragment) ; Smith and Rufty, American Anthology, p. 49; Gordon, Folk-Songs of America, p. 89; Cox, Traditional Ballads, pp. 46, 48, 49; Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands, p. 125 (fragment).
For British texts see: Greig, Last Leaves, No. 93; JFSS, II, 223; V, 260; Ford, Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland, p. 192.
B. "The Old Sheepskin." Contributed by Mrs. Oda Dearing, of Oakland City, Indiana. Gibson County. August 8, 1935.
1. As I came a-whistling from my plow,
Says I to my wife, "Is supper ready now?"
"There's a piece of cornbread laying on the shelf;
If you want any more, go cook it yourself."
Um-a-clary, um-a-clary,
Um-a-clama-dor-a-clas, tum-a-clingo.
2. As I went out to my sheep hole,[2]
I grabbed up a sheep about eleven years old;
I hung him up upon a pin,
And about three jerks and off came his skin.
Um-a-clary, um-a-clary,
Um-a-clama-dor-a-clas, tum-a-clingo.
3. I wrapped it all around her back,
And you better reckon the hickory cracked:
"Go tell you daddy and all your kin
I never whipped nothing but the old sheepskin,
Um-a-clary, um-a-clary,
Um-a-clama-dor-a-clas, tum-a-clingo.
2. For fold.