The Old Woman and the Devil- Scaaf (MO) 1914 Belden B
From: Ballads and Songs
G. L. Kittredge
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 30, No. 117 (Jul. - Sep., 1917), pp. 283-369
THE FARMER'S CURST WIFE (Child, No. 278).
Belden printed a text from Missouri in JAFL 19:298-299; and Barry has since published three copies, - two from Massachusetts and one from Maine [actually it's also from Mass.] (JAFL 24:348-349; 27:68), - but none of these are complete. A curious version (without the devil) may be found in Lomax, "Cowboy Songs," pp. 110-111 ("The Old Man under the Hill"). Texts are reported from Virginia by C. Alphonso Smith, Bulletin, No. 4, p. 8; No. 5, P. 9. Reed Smith reports the ballad from South Carolina (JAFL 28: 201). Miss Josephine McGill, in a brief paper on the "Survival of the English Folk Ballad" (in the Louisville "Courier-Journal" for Jan. 14, 1917), [1] quotes the concluding couplet-stanze of a Kentucky version: -
She was seven years going, and seven coming back,
But she asked for the baccy she'd left in the crack.
This recalls the end of the Scottish text in Child (version B), -
She was seven year gaun, and seven year comin,
And she cried for the sowens [2] she left in the pot.
For recent English tradition see "Journal of the Folk-Song Society," 2 : 184-185; 3:131-132 (and references). The Harvard College Library has the piece in a slip issued by Pitts, "The Sussex Farmer" (25242.25, P. 97).
The Old Woman and the Devil- Communicated by Professor Belden. From Mrs. Edward Schaaf, St. Mary's, Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri, 1914.
1. The good old man went out to plow
Sing tory a loo, walked out to plow,
Up stepped the old devil, "How are you now?
Sing tory a loo, how are you now?
2. "It's one of your family I have come for,
Sing tory a loo, that I have come for.
3. "It is neither you nor your eldest son;
It is your old scolding wife, she is the one."
4. "Take her and welcome, with all your heart!
I hope to my soul you will never part."
5. He picked her up upon his back,
Like an old bald eagle went off in a tack.
6. He had not gotten more than half his road,
Before he said, "Old woman, you are a hell of a load."
7. He set her down all for to rest;
She up with a stick and hit him her best.
8. He picked her up upon her back,
Like an old bald eagle, went offt in a rack.
9. He travelled on until he came to his gate;
He gave her a kick, said "There is your place."
10. Ten little devils strung on a wire;
She up with her foot and kicked nine in the fire.
11. One little devil peeping over the wall
Sang " Daddy take her back, she'll murder us all."
12. The good old man was peeping out of a crack;
Here came the devil wagging her back.
13. "Now, old man, see what a woman can do;
She can rout her husband and kill devils too.
14. "Now, old woman, on earth you must dwell;
You are not fit for heaven, and they won't have you in hell."
Footnotes:
1 In a series of articles on Kentucky folk-lore published in the Courier-Journal on the second Sunday of every month, under the auspices of the Kentucky Folk-Lore Society.
2. Oatmeal soured and then boiled thick.