Singers and Storytellers Page: 92
v, 298 p. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
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Folksay of Lawyers
HERMES NYE
IN THE DRAMA of folklore and folksong, the lawyer and the
judge make frequent, if minor, appearances, but (perhaps
unaccountably) they never attain the major roles of cultural
hero or archetype.
The lawyer usually displays the Reynard-like characteristics
of cleverness and dishonesty, and by most accounts is unscrupu-
lous, grasping, and shrewd. For all his wit, however, he seldom
appears to be rich-and in criminal cases at least his cause is
almost invariably lost and his clients end up on the gallows or
in being transported for life. His professional status is pretty
well recognized; we find, for example, in Burl Ives's "Chivalrous
Man-eating Shark,"
A doctor, a lawyer, a preacher
He'll gobble one any fine day;
But the ladies, God bless them,
He'll only address them
Politely and go on his way.
References to counsel in folksong are frequent and so well
known that only one or two instances will suffice.
The bawdy seventeenth-century French "party song" called
"My Mother Chose My Husband," which has been so ably
translated by Katherine Anne Porter, tells us that
My mother chose my husband, a lawyer's son was he,
And on the wedding night he came to bed with me.92
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Singers and Storytellers (Book)
Collection of popular folklore of Texas, including personal anecdotes about storytellers and singers, as well as folk songs, myths, and ghost stories. The index begins on page 295.
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Boatright, Mody C. Singers and Storytellers, book, 1961; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67655/m1/98/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.