The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #19427   Message #1381622
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
18-Jan-05 - 04:07 PM
Thread Name: Penguin: On Monday Morning
Subject: RE: Penguin: On Monday Morning
Notes in Traditional Ballad Index under "Holly Twig":

Holly Twig, The [Laws Q6]

DESCRIPTION: The singer finds that his new wife is a scold and a nag. He recounts his misery day by day. After a few days he goes to the woods and cuts a (holly twig), (whipping her so hard her soul is sent to hell). (A devil/her father comes to take her back).
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1760
LONG DESCRIPTION: On Monday the singer marries; on Tuesday he cuts a holly stick; on Wednesday he beats her with the stick until it breaks. On Thursday she takes sick (presumably from the beating); he says if she isn't better by tomorrow the devil can take her. On Friday the devil takes her. On Saturday the bells toll her death and the singer is jolly. On Sunday he relaxes alone, saying "Here's good luck to a week's work's end."
KEYWORDS: husband wife abuse violence death
FOUND IN: Britain(England(West,South)) US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Laws Q6, "The Holly Twig"
Randolph 367, "I Married Me a Wife" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 184, "The Holly Twig" (2 texts)
Chappell-FSRA 43, "The Holly Twig" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Hudson 58, pp. 174-175, "The Holly Twig" (1 text)
Niles 59, "The Unwilling Bride" (1 text, 1 tune, listed as Child 277 but appearing to me to be more similar to this ballad)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 78-79, "On Monday Morning" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 72-73, "Scolding Wife" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 520, HOLLYTWG*

Roud #433
RECORDINGS:
Ollie Gilbert, "Willow Green" (on LomaxCD1707)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" [Child 277] (plot)
cf. "The Old Gray Goose (I)"
cf. "I Had a Wife"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
A Week's Work Well Done
A Bachelor Bold and Young
File: LQ06

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Thread 28009 has variants or comparable songs including "I Married Me a Wife," "Cold Rain and Snow," "When I Was a Roustabout," Week's Work Completed" and others.