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THE CANTE FABLE IN NEW JERSEY1
By Herbert Halpert
Few American versions of the cante fable—the story interspersed with
song—have been reported from the English-speaking white population,
although the form was known in England. As I have suggested elsewhere,2
it is likely that efforts by field workers would remedy this lack. Readers of
this Journal are, of course, aware that the cante fable is not uncommon in
American Negro tales.
The few New Jersey cante fables given here can best be classed as
"Schwänke." I have attempted to show the European as well as the
American affiliations of three of them. This type of the cante fable is appar-
ently most firmly retained in American tradition, but other types will prob-
ably be recovered when collectors make a point of asking for "stories with
songs in them."
Of the twelve variants presented here all but three were dictated to me.
Charles Grant of New Egypt, N. J., who also narrated versions of four
of the stories, recorded variants of three of them on phonograph disks;
and it may be of some interest to compare the two separate renditions.
The records3 were carefully transcribed in a notation suggested by Dr.
George Herzog. He was also kind enough to transcribe the melodies and
to check my notation of the texts. In the transcribed texts three dots imme-
diately after a word indicate hesitation; a dash after a word shows that
the narrator paused for definite artistic effect. Italics show the word was
emphasized. Commas are used only when the speech flow actually con-
tained a break as well as the suspension usually implied by a comma. The
period is used only where the narrator's voice definitely dropped. Ques-
tions and remarks in parentheses are those of the recorder.
Such a notation only roughly indicates how a story is told. It may be a
little disturbing to notice that the breaks do not come where one might
expect them to occur for syntactical reasons. The telling is far from
mechanical, but to indicate completely the subtle fluctuations that make
it alive would require intricate notation.
1 Most of the material for this paper was gathered in the course of research made pos-
sible by a field grant-in-aid from the American Council of Learned Societies. Additional items
were secured during the summer of 1941 while the writer was collecting folklore under a
grant from Indiana University.
2 Herbert Halpert, "The Cante Fable in Decay," Southern Folklore Quarterly, V (1941),
p. 192.
3 The transcribed texts are given only their archive numbers. Their full classification is:
Archive of Primitive Music, Columbia University, record Halpert 1939, #---------.
133
I. Dicky Wigdom
IA Text dictated by Charles Grant, New Egypt, N. J., July 29, 1939.
Same tune goes to several other songs. I think I heard Tom [a deceased
brother] sing this.
Says:
"Here's luck to Dicky Wigdom,
Who little does think
I'm eating his rations,
And drinking his drink."
Comes in then:
"I'll sleep with his wife,
If God spares my life."
Ib Text recorded by Charles Grant, August 1, 1939, record #24B-I.
Mr. Grant recalls this only as a song but it is obviously a remnant of
the cante fable.
(What's the name of this song?) Well I'm a goin' to ... try to sing
Dicky Wigdom but I don't know the song I'm just... sing two or three
words of it an' that's all. That's all I know. Forgot it. (Didn't you tell
me the story about the song or something like that?) O yes, yes. There
was a ... fellow by the name of ... Dicky Wigdom. Another fellow . ..
fell in love with his wife. And uh . . . he used to go a courtin' when
Dicky Wigdom wasn't home. And so a song was made up about it. (Do
you remember what happens in the song?) No, I forgot about that.
Then there's something else about ... he was:
"I will sleep with his wife
If God spares my life."
and it's a long song and I've forgot all but just the first two or three words
so I can't—(Was there a story?) The uh . . . song told the whole story
but I forget the song. (There was no talking in it?) No talkin' in it, just
the song told the story.
IC Dictated by Tom Test, Brown's Mills, N. J., December 20, 1940.
"Dixie"4 used to sing a song about Dicky Wigdom, but I don't know
how it went:
"Luck to Dicky Wigdom who went far from home,
He went for a quart of the pure apple rum;
If God spares my life, I'll sleep with his wife,
So grows the green laurel and how merry are we."
I couldn't tell you no more to save my life. That was Dixie's song he
used to sing when he got drunk. That's a whole song—and a long song—
but I don't know what it was. He'd only get so far. I 'spect he knowed
the rest of it.
ID Dictated and sung by Oliver Minney, Cookstown, N. J., June 17, 1941.
Tune not secured.
When I used to run around with boy friends, we used to drink a little
and sing them songs to ourselves.
"Good luck to Dicky Wigdom who's thirty thousand miles away;
We eatin' his rations and drinkin' his drink.
If God is willin', in your arms I will sleep,
And sing, green grows the green laurel so merry can be."
"Good luck to Dicky Wigdom he's not far away;
You eatin' his rations and drinkin' his drink.
If God is willin', your nose he will smash,
And sing, green grows the green laurel so merry can be."
That's all I ever learnt of that.
The way it was, he went away miles away—she thought he was miles
away. A feller come there, you see, and stayed with her all night. He
come back. She thought he went away but he didn't.—That's all I ever
knowed of it. I don't know if there's any more to it than that. I've knowed
that ever since I was twelve years old. Joe Miller used to sing it.
These fragments are all I have been able to secure of the tale best
known as Grimm, No. 95, "Der alte Hildebrand" (Type5 1360 C).
Phillips Barry calls Mellinger E. Henry's variant from Samuel Harmon
of Tennessee in the Bulletin of the Folk-Song Society of the Northeast,
4 "Dixie" dictated the story given as 2c, but told me he had forgotten "Dicky Wigdom."
5 Refers to Aarne-Thompson, The Types of the Vol\-Tale, (FFC 74).
No. 3 (1931), pp. 5-6, "the fourth known version in English of a satirical
anti-clerical cante fable traditional in nearly every country of Europe."
The Henry variant also appeared with a tune in the Journal of American
Folklore, XLV, 34-5, and has been reprinted, with the tune and the revision
of one line in the first stanza, in M. E. Henry, Folk-Songs from the South-
ern Highlands, (New York, n. d.), pp. 153-4. Barry refers to C. R. Basker-
vill, The Elizabethan Jig, pp. 310-11; A. Williams, Folk-Songs of the
Upper Thames, pp. 293-4; and Isabel Gordon Carter, "Mountain White
Folk-Lore: Tales from the Southern Blue Ridge," Journal of American
Folklore, XXXVIII, 366-8 (from Mrs. Jane Gentry of Hot Springs, N. C).
There is another English version, a Negro one, in Elsie Clews Parsons,
Folk-Tales of Andros Island, Bahamas {Memoirs of the American Folk-
lore Society, XIII), pp. 78-9. For other American texts see: C.-M. Barbeau,
"Contes Populaires Canadiens," Journal of American Folklore, XXIX,
122-4 (French-Canadian); Alcee Fortier, Louisiana Folk/Tales {Memoirs
of the American Folklore Society, II), pp. 86, 87 (Louisiana French and
English translation); Elsie Clews Parsons, Folk-Lore from the Cape Verde
Islands (Memoirs of the American Folklore Society, XV), Part I, pp. 49-
51; 2, pp. 37-8 (Portuguese and English translation). I am indebted to
Professor Stith Thompson for calling to my attention the exhaustive study
of this tale by Walter Anderson, Der Schwank vom Alten Hildebrand:
eine vergleichende Studie (Dorpat, 1931).
Mr. Richard Chase reports the cante fable from the Ward family of
Watauga County, North Carolina.6 He notes that the grandfather of his
chief informant, Mr. R. M. Ward, and of Mrs. Jane Gentry (Miss Carter's
informant) was Council Harmon. In 1939, through the courtesy of Mr.
Mellinger E. Henry, I recorded for the Library of Congress the extensive
folksong and folktale repertoire, including this cante fable, of Samuel Har-
mon. Mr. Harmon told me that his family came from Watauga county
and that he was related to Council Harmon. Thus, the three previous
reports of the cante fable from the United States come from one family
tradition.
This Harmon-Gentry-Ward family tradition is worth noting as a strik-
ing illustration of the tendency of certain kinds of folklore to run in family
lines. All three branches of the family share the same folktale tradition—a
knowledge of true "Märchen" that seems unique in this country. And
in addition both Samuel Harmon and Jane Gentry were folksingers with
remarkable memories. Mrs. Gentry was one of Cecil Sharp's best infor-
mants. It is unfortunate that the death of both Mrs. Gentry and Mr.
Harmon has removed the possibility of an exhaustive study of this family.
6 R. Chase, "The Origin of 'The Jack Tales,' " Southern Folklore Quarterly, III (1939),
p. 191.
2. No Use Knockin' on the Blind
2a Text dictated by Charles Grant, July 30, 1939.
This fellow used to go there and knock on the blinds and she'd let him
in. Her old man he worked nights, and after he'd leave this fellow'd go
knock on the blinds. And I suppose the old man found it out and stayed
at home to see about this fellow.
He begin to tap very lightly with his fingers and she begin to sing—I
forget what she begin to sing—something to let him know the old man
was home. Old man he listened a minute, then he begin to sing:
"O there's no use tappin' on the blinds,
No use tappin' on the blinds.
For the baby is a-suckin'
And I'll do me own--------,
And there's no use your knockin' on the blinds."
2b Text recorded by Charles Grant, August 1, 1939, record #25B-I.
(What do you call that?) Well . . . (Did it have a name?) Yeah . . .
they call it "No Use Knockin' on the Blind" for the ... song but the ...
story is a ... something concerning a man who worked nights another
fellow used to go and share his wife's bed with him. An' uh ... he got on
to it and come home one night an' ... uh ... I don't know hardly what
you'd call that but . . . this . . . this is what happened. Go ahead now?
(Yes.7 Well, what happened ?) He ... he come home one evening an' uh...
this fellow was . . . out the winder. An' he was sleepin' home that night
he didn't \now it he'd come home and stayed when ... his wife wasn't
expecting him to and this fellow made a visit to the house—the other
fellow. Uh ... he come up to the winder an'... tapped on the blind. And
the wife she was singin' very low:—
7 Narrator did not realize the recording machine had been operating and expected to see
some activity.
8 This was sung quietly—almost whispered—and a whole tone lower than the man's song.
Old man he heard it and knowed what was up he begin to sing9:—
2c Dictated by Charles "Dixie" Archer, Cranberry Hall, near Cooks-
town, N. J., March 8, 1940. In 1937 "Dixie" had told me a version of the
following story, but I failed to write down more than the plot. I asked
him if he recalled it.
I remember somethin' about it. I'll tell you how it was. There was a man
married one time and there was another feller runnin' with his wife.
And uh—so—he kinda judged it, but didn't know it fur shore. So uh—
then one night—he was a sailor, follered the water. And uh—so one time
he come home and he told his wife, "Now," he says, "I won't be home till
such a night again." So then, by Jim, this feller he come there and he
come before that man come. He come that same night—this other feller.
Well the signal was, this feller he'd come and knock on the blinds. So she
says—she sung it:
"There's no use your knockin' on the blinds,
Yes, there's no use your knockin' on the blinds;
For the old man's at home,
And I am not alone,
And there's no use your knockin' on the blinds."
9 The man's song was recorded twice and variants are indicated.
Then the old man commenced—says:
"There's no use your knockin' on the blinds,
There's no use your knockin' on the blinds;
For the baby is a-suckin',
And I'll do my own--------,
So there's no use your knockin' on the blinds!"
He was a-givin' him a hint to get away.
2d Dictated by Tom Test, December 20, 1940.
Tom gave me this text after I urged him to try to complete his fragmen-
tary version of "Dicky Wigdom."
Why I think that was a man and his wife, and he used to go away, the
man used to go away, and this sweetheart he used to come and scratch
on the blinds, that was the iron grate. And one night the husband was
home, and she picked up the baby and sung:
"No use scratchin' on the blinds,
For the baby is a-weepin'
And my husband is sleepin'—"
She just done that to tell him the old man was home, and he says, "Why
don't you sing it all?" And she says, "I don't know it." And he says, "I'll
sing it."—That's an old story that was told, but I forgot all about it.
Boggs gives a text from North Carolina, Journal of American Folklore,
XLVII, 304, Version A, and refers to Journal of American Folklore,
XXXII, 363, and to C. R. Baskervill, "English Songs on the Night Visit,"
Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, XXXVI
(1921), 587. I cannot agree with Boggs that this is a form of Type 1360 C
("Der alte Hildebrand"—see the preceding discussion of "Dicky Wig-
dom"), but follow Baskervill and Walter Anderson10 in relating it to
forms of the song "Mîn mann is to hûs."
The most complete assemblage of European references is that by
Johannes Bolte in W. Anderson's study, op. cit., p. 324. To these references
add the following: G. F. Northall, English Folk-Rhymes, pp. 532 and 563;
S. Baring-Gould, etc., Songs of the West, edited by Cecil J. Sharp (7th
edition), p. 82, and notes in appendix, pp. 11-13; A. G. Gilchrist, Journal
of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, III (Dec, 1938), 161-64,
notes that three of the English versions were accompanied by an explana-
tion and that they suggest an original cante fable form; T. W. Talley,
Negro Folk Rhymes, p. 88, has a curious Negro version called "Song to
the Runaway Slave."
10 Op. cit., p. 303.
The Boggs Version A, and these from New Jersey, differ from the
English forms in that the husband understands his wife's warning to her
obtuse lover, and adds his warning by singing another stanza to her song.
The New Jersey 2c text follows Barrett11 and Buchan12 in making the
cuckold husband a sailor.
3. The Irresistible Captain13
3a Text dictated and sung by Charles Grant, July 30, 1939.
This sea captain fell in with an old violin player. He was makin' his
brags what he could do with the women, and the old fiddler told him he
didn't have anything to bet, but he'd be willing to bet his life that his wife
was true and virtuous. But the captain he offered to bet his ship and cargo
that he could do as he pleased with her. So the old fiddler went home and
told his wife, and made arrangements for the captain to be with his wife
for an hour in the settin' room alone. Then the old fiddler he got a chair
and set down right by the room door so she could hear him play on the
violin. And this is what he played. And as he played he sung—he was
a great singer too. He begin to play and sing:
"Be true, my love be true to me,
For just one little hour;
The ship he owns, the cargo too,
Both of them will be ours."
He was a-singin' this and playin' it over to remind her of what there'd
be. They'd be rich. After a while she answered him. She begin to sing:
"Too late, my love, my love, too late,
His arm's around my middle;
He's kissed me once and--------me twice,
You've lost your damned old fiddle."
3b Text recorded by Charles Grant, August 1, 1931, record #25B-2.
O a good many years ago there was an old sea captain I was a young
man then. But . . . he would bet any amount of money that he could do
as he pleased with any woman. An old . . . violin player resented that he
said there was no man in the world could get the advantage of his wife.
He hadn't a nothin' to bet but he was willin' be willin' to bet his life, or
anything else, that his wife was virtuous no man but him could do any-
thing with her. And the old sea captain made him a bet—that if he would
bet him his ship and cargo everything he had against his fiddle—that he
11 W. A. Barrett, English Folk-Songs, p. 46.
12 P. Buchan, Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland, II, 221.
13 This title is offered in the absence of a local one.
could do what he pleased with his wife if he give him one hour alone with
her. So—the captain took him up (You mean the fiddler?) uh . . . the
fiddler took him up and they uh . . . went to the fiddler's house—and the
sea captain took ... the fiddler's wife in the settin' room and the fiddler
set down by the door. Took his violin he was a good player and he begin
to play. (And as he played?) And as he played he sang a little and he
was . . . playin' and singin' this:
But ... he would uh ... it was too much for the woman or something or
something on anyhow but pretty soon she begin to sing. (Sing again what
he sang. He kept singing this song?) He kept singin' it over and over.—
(Sing it again.)
"O be true to me my love, be true
For just one little hour;
The ship and cargo that he owns
Then they will both be ours."
After a while she answered him:
"Too late, my love, my love too late,
His arm's around my middle;
He's kissed me once and--------me twice,
You've lost your damned old fiddle."
(What was that story called? Did it have a name?) I, I don't think so.
Just a song told the story.
3c Recalled by Mr. Stanley Riesner, Bloomington, Ind., December, 1940,
as heard in Brooklyn, N. Y.
14 The tune is a variant of "Where, O where has my little dog gone?", a song of college
vintage.
Mr. Riesner knew scarcely more than the outline of the story. He
remembered that it was told as a cante fable and that a yacht is bet against
the fiddle. One line which does not appear either in the North Carolina
or New Jersey versions is:
"I'll try, my love, I'll try,"
and is apparently an earlier answer by the wife to her husband's warning.
The only variants I have found of this tale of a wager on the wife's
chastity, in which both are lost, are given from North Carolina by Boggs,
Journal of American Folklore, XLVII, 305, Version B. Wagers which are
won by the wife's steadfastness are common; see Type 882.
4. Parson Tricked by Boy's Song15
Dictated and sung by Charles Grant, June 19, 1941. Tune not secured.
The boy was up in front of the preacher's house and he was singin'
'bout his
"Daddy killed old parson's sheep,
When all the people was asleep.
Fetched it home just like a man,
And mamma fried it in the pan."
Parson he heard 'im you know—this was in England. He told him if
he'd come to church next Sunday morning, he'd give him a new suit of
clothes and a half a crown if he'd sing that song. So the boy agreed to do it.
Sunday morning he showed up. Parson called on the boy to sing that
song he'd promised to sing. The boy he started in, but he started a little
different. He begin to sing for them; he started off this way:
"A nice suit and a half a crown
Was give to me by Parson Brown,
To tell the people of this town
What I seen him doin' to Molly."
He sung more:
"He had Miss Molly on the hay,
And pushed and shoved her every way;
Pushed her, shoved her every way,
Then turned her upside down."
I guess that's all.
—That was an old song—I heard them sing that. Been a long time since
I heard that. Didn't have much tune. Used to be a fellow 'round the
Pines—Garret Lemon—I don't doubt he's the man I heard sing it.
15 This title is offered in the absence of a local one.
Garret was a sailor. He'd been in the navy and all over the world he
said, and I guess he had.
Boggs classifies this as Type 1735*A in his Index of Spanish Folktales
(FFC 90). He also gives a brief variant from North Carolina in Journal
of American Folklore, XLVII, 311. A Negro cante fable text is given in
Guy B. Johnson, Folk Culture on St. Helena Island, South Carolina, pp.
141-142. There is an English text from Derbyshire in S. O. Addy, House-
hold Tales with other Traditional Remains, p. 18. Add: Herbert Halpert,
"Indiana Folktales," Hoosier Folklore Bulletin, No. I (June, 1942), pp. 5-8.
Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.
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