Johnny and Old Mr. Henly

Johnny meets his honest neighbor
What he told him was to plague him:
"I saw your wife and I saw no more,
With another man and they closed the door."

Johnny went home in great wonder,
Bumping on the door like thunder.
"Who is that?" Mr. Henly cried,
"'Tis my husband; you must hide."

His wife held the door while old Mr. Henly,
Jumping and jerking, went up the chimney.
Johnny came in and looked all around;
Not a soul could there be found.

Johnny sat down by the fireplace weeping;
Up the chimney he got to peeping.
There he spied the frightened soul
Sitting across the pot-rack pole.

Johnny reached up and really catched him
Like a raccoon dog he fetched him,
Round and around he mopped the floor
Then kicked him out at the open door.

Through that door poor Johnny kicked him
Henly felt every lick that hit him.
"Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny forebear ye
Never any more you'll see me."

Henly ran with all his power
Making forty miles an hour;
Down the road and over the fence
No one has ever seen him since.

Note: One of a large number of variants usually titled Will the
Weaver, Pot-Rack Pole or Jumping and Jerking that have been
collected all over North America.RG

From Folk Songs of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Shellan
Collected from John Vass, Hillsville, VA 1959
DT #345
Laws Q9
RG