THanks for that
I was aware of the R.V,W. version in Palmer's though I had been singing it for ten years when Roy published his book.
Either my source, Dick Snell or I removed one of the verses (about the lady laughinghing up her sleeve) because he or I found it superfluous - a case with many broadsides which feel they need to cross t's and dot i's for the sake of the listener
I suspect this is one that was either taken from a country song and expanded or made from a humorous country tale
Walter Pardon, when he heard me sing it, once described it as "Chaucerian", a description which he also used for 'The Cunning Cobbler'
It is certainly full of country humour and works very well for the old farmers that turn up for our local sessions
Jim Carroll