Jolly Thresher, The (Poor Man, Poor Man)

DESCRIPTION: The rich man asks the poor man how he can support such a large family with so many young children. The poor man answers, "I make my living by the sweat of my brow." In some texts the rich man gives him some sort of reward for all his hard work
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1685 (broadside); 1792 (Scots Musical Museum)
KEYWORDS: dialog work poverty
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,NE,SE,So) Britain(England(All),Scotland(Aber)) Ireland
REFERENCES (22 citations):
Randolph 127, "Poor Man, Poor Man" (1 text)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 58, "The Thresherman" (1 text)
Cox/Hercog/Halpert/Boswell-WVirginia-A, #21A-B, pp. 85-88, "Poor Man, O Poor Man," "There Was a Rich Englishman" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol2, p. 32, "Jolly Reapers" (1 fragment, 1 tune; possibly this although it's too short to really tell)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 253, "The Jolly Thresher" (1 text, 1 tune)
Broadwood/Maitland-EnglishCountySongs, pp. 68-69, "The Thresher and the Squire" (1 text, 1 tune)
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, p. 138, "The Nobleman and the Thresher" (1 text) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Wt 336)
Copper-ASongForEverySeason, pp. 274-275, "The Labourer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Stokoe/Reay-SongsAndBalladsOfNorthernEngland, pp. 118-119, "The Nobleman and Thrasher" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-EnglishCountrySongbook, #23, "The Jolly Thresherman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner-TraditionalAmericanFolkSongsFromAnneAndFrankWarnerColl 146, "The Jolly Thresher" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thompson-APioneerSongster 80, "The Poor Man" (1 text)
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 92, "The Jolly Thresher" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Brown-VermontFolkSongsAndBallads, pp. 156-159, "Poor Man's Song," "The Labourer" (2 texts, the second being the Green Mountain Songster version)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H622, p. 44, "The Jolly Thresher"; H117, pp. 44-45, "As the King Went A-Hunting" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Greig/Duncan3 437, "The Thresherman" (6 texts, 4 tunes)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, pp. 48-49, "The Hedger" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dixon-AncientPoemsBalladsSongsOfThePeasantryOfEngland, Ballad #20, pp. 148-151, "The Nobleman's Generous Kindness" (1 text)
Bell-Combined-EarlyBallads-CustomsBalladsSongsPeasantryEngland, pp. 318-320, "The Nobleman's Generous Kindness" (1 text)
JournalOfAmericanFolklore, G.L. Kittredge, editor, "Ballads and Songs," Vol. XXX, No. 117 (Jul-Sep 1917), pp. 353-355 "The Jolly Thresherman" (1 text)
DT, POORMAN*
ADDITIONAL: J Woodfall Ebsworth, The Roxburghe Ballads, (Hertford, 1891 ("Digitized by Microsoft")), Vol. VII Part 2 [Part 21], pp. 328-330, "The Noble-Man's Generous Kindness" or "The Country Man's Unexpected Happiness" (1 text)
Roud #19
RECORDINGS:
Harry Holman, "There Was a Poor Thresherman" (on Voice20)
Eleazar Tillett, "The Jolly Thresher" (on USWarnerColl01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 15(311b), "Squire and Thrasher" ("A nobleman liv'd in a village of late"), W. Jackson and Son (Birmingham), 1839-1855; also Harding B 15(312a), "The Squire and Thrasher"; Harding B 16(258b), "The Squire and Thrsherman" [sic]
NLScotland, Ry.III.a.10(040), "The Noble Man's Generous Kindness" or "The Country-Man's Unexpected Happiness," unknown, 1701
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Thresherman (and the Squire)
NOTES [10 words]: Ebsworth dates his text, a P. Brooksby broadside, 1685-1688. - BS
Last updated in version 6.0
File: R127

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