The Yorkshire Bite- Watson (MA) 1889 Child
[Below is a version collected by Child that was supplied by Kittredge in the 1917 JOAFL. Footnotes appear at the end- I've renumbered the last footnote so the numbers are sequential.
R. Matteson 2013]
THE YORKSHIRE BITE (THE CRAFTY PLOUGHBOY)
The favorite broadside ballad of "The Yorkshire Bite" or "The Crafty Ploughboy" was duly registered by Child (5: 129) as a parallel to "The Crafty Farmer" (No. 283), though not a version of it. [3] Barry published a fragmentary copy, obtained in Boston from singing, in this Journal, 1910 (23 :451-452), with the tune, and added an amusing and instructive traditional tale. A better text, from the Child MSS., is given below; it was sent to Child in 1889. Professor F. C. Brown (p. 7) reports (1914) the ballad as collected by Mrs. John C. Campbell of Asheville, N.C. [4] Dr. Bertrand L. Jones has found it in Michigan.
"The Crafty Ploughboy" (sometimes with a sub-title, "The Highwayman Outwitted") occurs in the following Harvard broadsides: 25242.17, i, 86 (G. Jacques, Manchester); same, iii, 49 (J. Kendrew, York); iv, 153 (W. R. Walker, Newcastle-upon-Tyne); ix, 113 (John O. Bebbington, Manchester, and J. Beaumont, Leeds, No. 117); xii, 64 (H. Such, No. 217); 25242.28 (no imprint); Irish broadside in lot of Aug. 31, 1916 ("The Robber Outwitted"). An American broadside of about 1820-30 has recently been acquired, "The Yorkshire Bright . . . Printed and Sold at No. 25, High Street, Providence, where are kept for sale 100 other kinds Songs."
It is still sung in England: see "Journal of Folk-Song Society," 2: 174-176 ("The Lincolnshire, or Yorkshire, Farmer"). Greig has found the piece in oral circulation in Scotland ("Yorkshire Farmer," "Folk-Song of the North-East," xxxv).
[The Yorkshire Bite.]
From Child MSS., Harvard College Library, xxvii, 188 (1), written down for Professor Child, April 10, 1889, by Mr. J. M. Watson, of Clark's Island, Plymouth, Mass., as imperfectly remembered by him from the singing of his father, Mr. A. M. Watson, of the same place. At the same time Mr. Watson sent a very interesting version of "Archie o' Cawfield," [5] also remembered from his father's singing.
1. If you please to draw near,
You quickly shall hear;
It is of a farmer who lived in Yorkshire.
A fine Yorkshire boy he had for his man,
And for to do his business: his name it was John.
Lod-le-tol, lod-le-tol, lod-le-ledle, lod-le-tay.
2. Right early one morning he called to his man;
A-coming in to him, he says to him: "John,
Here, take you the cow to the fair,
For she is in good order, and she I can spare."
3. The boy took the cow away in a band,
And arrived at the fair, as we understand;
A little time after he met with three men,
And he sold them the cow for a six pound ten.
4. They went into a tavern, 'twas there for to drink,
The farmers to pay the boy down his chink;
But while the highwayman was a-drinking of his wine,
He says to himself, "That money is mine."
5. (The boy speaks to the landlady about this conspicuous-looking man, as to what he shall do with the money.)
"I will sew it in the lining of your coat," says she,
"For fear on the road robbed you may be."
6. (The boy starts on his way home on foot; the highwayman follows him on horseback, and very politely offers him a lift on his journey; the boy accepts his invitation and gets up behind him.)
7. They rode till they came to a dark, narrow lane;
The highwayman said, "I must tell you in plain,
Deliver that money without any strife,
Or else I shall surely take thy sweet life."
8. The boy he thought 'twas no time to dispute,
So he leaped from the horse without fear or doubt;
The money from the lining of his coat he tore out,
And among the long grass he did strow it about.
9. The highwayman got down from his horse;
Little did he think it was to his loss;
For while he was picking all the money that was strowed,
The boy jumped on horseback and home he rode.
10. The highwayman shouted and bid him for to stand;
The boy didn't hear him, or wouldn't understand.
Home to his master he did bring
Horse, bridle, and saddle, and many a pretty thing.
11. The maid-servant saw John a-riding home;
To acquaint the master she went unto his room.
. . . . . .
"What! have you a cow turned into a horse?"
12. "Oh, no! my good master; your cow I have sold,
But was robbed on the road by a highwayman bold.
While he was picking up all the money that was strowed,
I jumped on his horse's back and home I rode."
13. The farmer he did laugh while his sides he did hold:
"And as for a boy, you have been very bold;
And as for the villain, you have served him very right,
For you have put upon him a true Yorkshire bite."
14. (They overhaul the holsters and find great store of treasure, — diamond rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. The boy says, —)
"I trow,
I think, my dear master, I've oversold your cow."
Footnotes:
3. "The Crafty Farmer" itself has not yet turned up in this country. It was published, however, in The Universal Songster, or Museum of Mirth (London, 1825-26; also 1834), a : 357-358, — a book whose title was copied by C. Gaylord, Boston, 1835.
4. Compare JAFL 28: 199.
5. Printed by Child. No. 188 F (3: 494).