Devil and the Lawyer, The

DESCRIPTION: "The devil came up to the earth one day, And into a courthouse he wended is way" as a lawyer was making his case." When he is done, the other lawyer starts talking. The Devil concludes that he dares not allow lawyers in Hell; they would "ruin its morals"
AUTHOR: unknown (Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah's informant James Jepson set the tune)
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (text in "The International Bookbinder," vol. XVIII, available on Google Books); traditional version 1947 (Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah)
KEYWORDS: Devil Hell humorous lawyer
FOUND IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #176, "The Devil and the Lawyer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10922
NOTES [39 words]: This reminds me very faintly of Chaucer's "Friar's Tale," although the ending is very different (in the Friar's Tale, it is a summoner who is corrupt, and he eventually is taken to Hell). I strongly doubt literary dependence, though. - RBW
Last updated in version 3.8
File: Hubb175

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