T'Owd Yowe wi' One Horn

DESCRIPTION: Old "yowe" (ewe) resists penning and kicks the farmhand around the yard. The butcher is sent for; the yowe charges him and breaks his legs. She is sent to fight for the king, and kills soldiers in quantity.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (JFSS: Dean Robinson)
KEYWORDS: farming humorous talltale animal sheep
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
VaughanWilliams/Lloyd-PenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs, p. 82, "T'Owd Yowe wi' One Horn" (1 text, 1 tune)
OShaughnessy/Grainger-TwentyOneLincolnshireFolkSongs 18, "T'Owd Yowe wi' One Horn" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Journal of the Folk-Lore Society, Vol. II, No. 7 (1905 (available online by JSTOR)), #2 p. 79, "TOwd Yowe Wi One Horn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1762
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Grey Goose"
cf. "The Killing of the Big Pig (Iso Sika)"
NOTES [111 words]: This seems to have been collected only once, but cognate stories of big animals that are hard to kill and cook are common (see cross-references). "The Derby Ram" is also connected. -PJS
Kennedy apparently regards it as the same as the piece "The Ewie wi' the Crookit Horn" (#271 in his collection). But neither the plot, nor the words, nor the music is the same. - RBW
Then there's the "Yowie wi' the Crookit Horn," which seems to be slang for an illegal whiskey still. - PJS
OShaughnessy/Grainger-TwentyOneLincolnshireFolkSongs is from VaughanWilliams/Lloyd-PenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs. The JFSS words, apparently the "original" text, are only slightly different. - BS
File: VWL082

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