> Folk Music > Songs > The Crafty Farmer
The Crafty Farmer
[
Roud 2640
; Child 283
; G/D 2:267
; Ballad Index C283
; trad.]
This ballad is from a family of ballads about robbers outwitted. In The Crafty Farmer (Roud 2640; Child 283) it is the farmer himself who is, er, crafty. In The Highwayman and the Farmer’s Daughter (Roud 2638; Laws L2) it is his daughter and in Jack and the Robber (Roud 2637; Laws L1) it is the farmer's servant boy. The Traditional Ballad Index catalogues Child 283 and Laws L1 as the same song.
Alexander Keith printed The Crafty Farmer in 1925 in his book Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads and Ballad Airs. This version was collected by Gavin Greig from J.W. Beattie of New Pitsligo, Scotland, on 21 September 1909 as The Farmer and the Robber. Keith commented:
The Crafty Farmer is probably the best specimen of that considerable class of ballads, long popular among chap-book and similar printers, which tell how thieves have been outwitted by the cunning of various persons of both sexes. Child prints his version from a 1796 chap-text. Our version, while no doubt descended from a printed source, has lost some stanzas and lines, and acquired others which are not improvements, in the course of its oral career. We may describe it, and accept it as the traditional survivor of something better. Logan, in his Pedlar's pack, gives a number of particulars of the ballad's history.
Ewan MacColl sang The Crafty Farmer in 1956 on his and A.L. Lloyd's Riverside album The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) Volume III. This track was also included in 2009 on his Topic anthology Ballads: Murder·Intrigue·Love·Discord. Kenneth S. Golstein commented in the album's booklet:
This is probably the best example of the many ballads which deal with the outwitting of thieves and highwaymen by the cunning of plain folk. Such ballads were very popular with chapbook and broadside printers in the 18th and 19th centuries, so that versions which have come down in tradition show little variation from early printed copies.
Child did not have a very high opinion of this ballad, referring to it as being “very ordinary”. He included it in his great work, however, because it “has enjoyed great popularity, and is given for that reason and as a specimen of its class”.
For all of its early popularity, the ballad has been collected rarely in modern times. It has been reported only once in America, and not at all in England during this century. Numerous versions of other “outwitted thief” ballads, including The Yorkshire Bite and The Maid of Rygate among others, are still known in tradition in both countries. Only in Scotland, however, is The Crafty Farmer still found in tradition.
MacColl's version was learned from his father.
Ewan MacColl also sang The Crafty Farmer on his 1960 Topic album Chorus from the Gallows.
Kate Rusby sang this song as Silly Old Man in 2014 on her CD Ghost.
Lyrics
J.W. Beattie sings The Farmer and the Robber | Ewan MacColl sings The Crafty Farmer |
---|---|
I'm gaun to sing a sang, |
I'm gaun to sing ye a sang, Chorus (after each verse): |
As he was riding alang, |
As he was a-ridin' along, |
“How far are ye gaun this way, kind sir?” |
“Hoo far are ye gaun, kind sir?” |
“I am an aul' fairmer |
“A doited auld carle am I, |
“My landlord he's been absent |
“But my landlord's no' been at hame, |
“Ye shouldna hae told this, kind sir, |
“You shouldnae hae told me this, |
The aul' man grew crusty, |
The auld man winked his e'e, |
The robber to the aul' man said, |
The gentleman robber then said, |
The aul' man he grew crusty, |
But the farmer he was crafty, |
The robber dismounted his horse |
The robber he got off his horse |
The aul' man got foot in the stirrup, |
The auld man pit his foot in the stirrup, |
The robber he flew in a passion, |
The robber he flew in a passion, |
As the fairmer was riding hame again, |
As the fairmer was ridin' hame, |
When he arrived at hame again, |
And when that he got hame, |
And aye she ran and aye she sang, |
When they opened the robber's bag, |
When they opened the robber's bag, |
And aye she danced around, |