The Old Shoe- Avery (ID) 1933 Cheney
[Cheney: Folk Ballad Characteristics; 1936. His extensive notes follow, he makes no conclusion that this is a secondary ballad to Child 31. The weakness of his analysis is that he overlooked the extant versions that had already been published. The last section of notes has not been edited.
R. Matteson 2014]
The ballad The Old Shoe is an example of a type, extant in America, which is not an actual version of a Child ballad, yet contains in its gist ballad situations and incidents. songs of this group are in reality modern versions of old ballads so sophisticated as to be almost completely disguised. The following discussion will illustrate my point.
The story of The Old Shoe runs thus: A beautiful young lady, unencumbered by her father's riches, was courted by a young man. To prove the young man, she told him she would not be his bride, at which he impulsively swore in her presence he would marry the first woman he saw. Shrewishly, the girl ordered her servants to delay the young man while she put away her rich jewels and clothing and dressed as a beggar. When her hands and face were besmeared with soot and she looked like a beggar, even to the old shoes, she ran down the road like a witch to be first to meet him. True to his self-imposed oath, he proposed marriage to the supposedly despicable creature and received an affirmative answer at once. Being fearful of taking her to his proud parents, he left her at a neighbor's, but promised to return when the wedding was planned. The parents, informed of the vow the son had made, advised him to bring the lady home and marry her; and with new clothing she would do very well. The wedding was announced, and guests were invited to the feast. The servants attempted to dress the bride, but she refused to wear other than her old clothes. At the wedding feast the beggar bride clawed out the meat with her hands, burned them in the hot pudding, then wiped them on her old rags. His friends laughed, some much pleased, others much grieved. The bride took a candle to light her way to the chamber. As she went from the room, she informed her husband he might come when her old shoe went "clung" on the floor. At the signal, he went to the chamber where he retired without the aid of a light, his back to the bride. She rolled, tumbled and turned until he asked "what the devil" was the matter. Her shins were sore; she must have a light to dress them. By the light of the candle he saw his old bride clothed in the finest of things and fairer than pictures of gold. He voiced his surprise by the expression, "Is it you? Is it you?" Here is the text as it was sung to me by Eliza Jane Avery in Burley, Idaho, August 1933.
'Tis of an old man in Plymouth did dwell
And he had a daughter, a beautiful girl;
A young man, he courted her to be his bride;
This plentiful fortune encumbered her pride,
Encumbered her pride.
He courted her long and gained her love,
But still she intended this young man to prove;
One day he said to her, and thus she replied,
She told him right there she would ne'er be his bride,
She would ne'er be his bride.
Then hearing those sad words from his dear;
'Twas with a sad oath, oh then, he did swear
That he'd have the first woman that e'er he did see,
If she was mean as a beggar could be,
As a beggar could be.
She ordered her servants this young man to delay
While she her rich jewels had all put away;
Then she dressed herself up in the worst she could find;
She looked like old Cheepi[1], before and behind,
Before and behind.
She rubbed her hands on the chimney jam,
She rubbed her face from corner to chin,
And down the road she ran like a witch
With her petticoat hoisted all on a half hitch,
All on a half hitch.
Then as he came riding, and thus he did see her;
it was for his sad oath, oh then, he did fear,
With her old shoe heel jammed down to ascrew,
He soon overtook her and says, "Who are you?"
And says, "Who are you?"
"I'm a woman."
This answer, it struck him as well as a dead man,
He stumbled, he staggered, he hardly could stand.
"Oh, how can I fear for to have you?" said he.
And then he soon asked her, saying: "Will you have me?"
Saying: "Will you have me?"
"Yes, I will."
This answer, it suited as well as the rest,
But lay very heavy and sore on his breast,
'Twas for his oath's sake he must make her his bride,
And then soon asked her behind him to ride,
Behind him to ride.
"Your horse will throw me; I know it will."
"Oh, no! Oh, no! My horse, it will not."
She mustered around and behind him she got.
"My heart it doth fail me, I dare not go home,
My parents will say I'm forever undone,
I'm forever undone."
He took her to neighbors, with whom he was great;
'Twas of his sad story he dare not relate'
"It's here with my neighbors a while you will tarry,
And in a short time I with you will marry,
I with you will marry."
"You don't! I know you don't!"
He told her he would, and home he did go;
He told his father and mother also,
And of his sad case and how he had sworn'
"All's well," said his parents, and they did not mourn,
And they did not mourn.
"Son, break not your vows, but bring home your girl,
And we'll fix her up so she'll do very well."
So published they were, and invited the guests,
And they intended the bride for to dress,
The bride for to dress.
"I'll wear my old clothes as I used to."
Then he invited his old spark to come;
Her servants replied, "She is not at home."
He ordered his servants to wait on her there,
And then for the wedding they all did prepare,
They all did prepare.
And when they were married and sat down to eat,
With her fingers she clawed out the cabbage and meat,
And in the hot pudding she burned them to fags;
She licked them and wiped them all on her old rags,
All on her old rags.
Then faster endeavor, she at it again,
They all laughed in private 'til their sides ached with pain;
Then while they were stopped some called her his bride,
Saying, "Go, you love, do and sit down by his side,
Sit down by his side."
"I'll sit in the corner as I used to."
Some, they were tickled and very much pleased,
While others were sorry and very much grieved;
They gave her a candle, what could she ask more?
And showed her the way to her chamber door,
To her chamber door.
"Husband, when you hear my old shoe go, 'clung,' the you can come."
Upstairs she went and kept stepping about;
His mother says, "Son, what think you the row?"
"Oh, Mother! Dear Mother, don't say one word,
For no more comfort may this world me afford,
May this world me afford."
And by and by the old shoe it went, "clung";
They gave him a candle and bade him go along'
"l choose for to go in the dark," then he said,
"For I very well know the way to my bed,
The way to my bed."
He jumped in his bed with his back to his bride,
She rolled, and she tumbled from pillow to side,
And as she turned over, the bed it did squeak.
"What the devil's the matter? Why don't you lay still?
Why don't you lay still?"
"My shins are sore, I want a candle to dress them by."
He called for a candle to dress his wife's shins,
And found she was clothed in the finest of things;
And as she turned over, her face to behold,
He found she was fairer than pictures of gold,
Than pictures of gold.
"ls it you? Is it you?" with his arms around her waist,
The answer was "Yes," and they all came in haste;
They looked like two pictures that pleased the eye.,
And through many a fair glass we wish them much joy
We wish them much joy.
1. Apparently pronounced sheep-eye: "She looked like a sheep-eye before and behind," which is apparently a misnomer for "gypsy" pronounced gyps-eye. Another version has "teapot," see Atwood.
Although this ballad has no exact counterpart in Child, it is a typical ballad story. In the first place to do with a private personal affair. It deals with a story, a subject of more than one-third of the Child ballads. If we include sex crimes as a violent and illicit
perversion of love, 152 of the 305 come under this classification. An element of relationship is seen to 'Gil Brenton" (Child 5) who marries without knowing girl is the victim of his earlier lust. In "The Old Shoe" the man married a girl he does not know to be his earlier sweetheart.
The story of "The Old Shoe" so closely resembles some versions of "The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter" (Child 110) as to be considered its direct offspring. Briefly, the story of version E runs as follows: Earl Richard meets a beautiful lady "with
towers of gold upon her head" who so enthralls him that he at once proposes marriage (in a crude way afterward offering lavish gifts which she freely refuses until,
He caught her by the milk-white hand,
And the grass-green sleeve,
And there has taken his will of her
Wholly without her leave.
After this casually treated rape, the lady insisted on being told his name. He gave the Latin for Richard which, to his surprise, she promptly interpreted. As he rode away, she followed persistentiy and at the castle put her case before the queen who promptly promised to force marriage. The maid identified Earl Richard, the queen's brother, as the man. Richard married the lady most reluctantly, for she told outlandish stories how her mother and she were both loathsome beggars. Not only did she tell such stories but demonstrated in her actions what she pretended to be. When in bed,
He turned his face unto the stock,
And she hers to the stone,
And cold and dreary was the love
That was these two between.
There was great mirth in the kitchen and hall but,
He (Earl Richard)wept till he fell fast asleep,
Then slept till light was come,
And he heard the gentlemen in the outer hall say the union was a very fine match between the girl, the king of Scotland's daughter, and the queen of England's brother.
"The Wife of Bath's Tale," which Chaucer is supposed to have taken from a current tare of sir Gawain, is also related. 'The Wife of Bath's Tale," differs from the story just told in that the case is taken to King Arthur who allows the knight the alternative of death or marriage to the girl" The marriage is so distasteful to him that one would not be surprised to see the knight choose death.
"The Marriage of Sir Gawain" (Child 31) has much in common with "The Old Shoe." King a.lf.* ."coun_
tered in the woods a bold baron *h; ;;; e"irl ni,
cho.ice of fighting or returning befor" ili.* V"rr;J p"v
rvith an answer to the questiJn, what ao *o*.i most
desire? Arthur puts. the^qustio., *rr..y*here and collects
many answers in which he has little confidence. As he
rides to meet the baron, h" ***ts a frightfullv uelv
lvoman; she inrimares she can help hi;. a;iir;?;"__
ises her Gawain in marriage if she will, anJ ,n" fi".,
him the right answer. Arthur finds the'baron, uria, after
presenting the answers he had gathered uir"*h"r., ull
to be contemptuously rejected,"he gives the answer the
rvoman on the moor gave: that a woman would have
her will' This answer isright. No* Arthur *uri r.""p
his promise. He assernb_les"his knigfit;, il;ilyria" ,o
meet the.lady. All bur Gawain deiest h",,ighi;;;
decline the match in vehem.rt t"rmr. Somehow
Cawain overlooks,,a litle foul sighi ";J;;liking.,,
She is bedded in all her repulrirr.ri"r, and turns J,i.i'g
the night to a beautiful.young *o*un. To try Gawain
further she asks hirn if he wifihave hu. rui.ty i[i, o,
b-{ 4uV. Manfully, Gawain gives her her choice. This is
all that is needed. to make fJr p"r*anently beautiful,
for she has been bewitched by a stepmother to dweil on
Sl1oor as a fiend untit ,o** l"Gtt;;;l;;" her alt
ner own way.
In the stories.of ,,The Knight and the Shepherd,s
Daughter" (Child l1o),,,Th; Marriage J S-r'r^C"wain,,
(Child 31), and ,,The Ola Sho",,u U"Z,rtiil'irdy of high
rank is though! !V u lover to be most distasteful but is
transformed while in bed to her true self.
The first outstandj ng difference between ,,The
Shepherd's Daughter,,lnd,,The Old Shoe,, i, il,"
removal in the latter of the sex story. This change we
yo"lq expect in present-day lore, when even ih" *ort
hurnble of folk hive been truir,ed in sex t"U." f".
several generations. Not only is it eliminated blcause of
taboo,.but present-day socieiy will not t.f.*i.. ape, a
sin which was looked up9n, ii interpreted in the spirit
of the ballad, most casually. It is, then, " f".i tl,at if a
song is to be sung to present-day society, stories of rape
must be kept out.
The most noticeable difference between,,The Mar_
lage of Sir Gawain" and ,,The Old Shoe; is th'; iact
that the supernatural occurs ir,,,Thu Mu.ri"g.'"i Si.
Gawain" bur does not in ,,The Old Shoe-;ii; ia"u of u
l,"trol being.under the power of a stepm.rf.,". r,,Ji,.h ,o
tne extent of being a fiend is preposterous to modern
society. fo be popular with fok today, tn.-offiagan
superstitions must be removed and thl'storyp-lu'..d i,., u
new setting.r
^.I have given ryp,I. evidence that the song ,,The OId
Shoe" is a ballad which deals with the perpi";; prob_
lem of love common to many bri";;. iiairr, *irn "
domestic problem in a single i".ia."i ugu.ti"i ."rv r*"
main characters. Eviden." hur ulro b"e.,;ii"ftLt tn.
story has been changed, having a rearrangement of
characters, setting, plot, urd nir.utive to make a
plausiblestorv adapted to present-d"y lii;. ihl ll,u.,g"
is, first, elimination of the..udu sex story; second,
eradication of all superstition. Evide.t." rroua i"ua o.,.
to believe, and with sufficient foundatio" ,o U" "o
guesswork, that society will not tolerate, ; ;;.*t..,t
of ,lgb"lqTrls popular tradition, the two ih";;; cited.
"The Old Shoe" starts in the objective;";;i""
Itl,ll:rc:I, past tense. The introducto.ilh;;;;' ,,,7.,
of, ' rs particularly American. The objective ,,ur.uti,o" i,
carriedpretty much throughout, arthoulh til;;maric
me thod enters appreii abtv:. rr,.' i" t."a"?ii."l Jalu*u r-
tr^ally abrupt, the two *uir, characters being ir,1.o_
duced in the second and third lines of the first stanza
and the p-lot suggested in the fourth ri".. r-h"';;;--
ment o{ 4" plot is liy:lv.Several a"r..ipti". ,"ri."..,
enter-"She looked like old Cheepi before r'd b"ii.,d,,,
"With her shoe heel jammed down to ascrew,,,,,She
Hi? lliy tl'T pictures-o f sotd,,,and ,1ile i*o ii.,.,r",
tnat preased the e,y"." These are not features of irue
ballad structure, but, it will be oLr..rr"d, th"y r."-short
and trite, the only type of descriptive phrase L.."otubl.
in a ballad. Exposition ente* i",u.h frt;i;il;r"i