Game Warden Song

DESCRIPTION: The game warden catches the singers netting salmon. He takes the nets but agrees, for a ride, not to turn them in. But he sends a letter to the magistrate. They are met by the judge with a summons. The warden gets half the $10 fine.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast)
KEYWORDS: trial trick fishing judge punishment
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast 82, "Game Warden Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LLab082 (Partial)
Roud #9978
NOTES [119 words]: Newfoundland and Labrador had (and have) only one major town, St. John's; no other settlement had even 10,000 people in the period when folk songs were being written and collected. Very many people lived in mere villages of a few houses. The result was that the "townies" of St. John's had a low opinion of other Newfoundlanders, and vice versa. But, because St. John's had a very large fraction of the population and was where the legislature met and government operated, the country was governed by what one might call "St. John's Rules." It's not just Newfoundlanders who mistrust their own elected governments, of course, but it was unusually common there. I have a feeling this song is a reflection of that. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.4
File: LLab082

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