Of the same tenor is the ballad of The Devil and the Scold, Collier's Roxburghe Ballads, p. 35.
We subjoin the first stanza of Burns's ballad for the sake of the burden, which is said to be old.
There lived a carl on Kellyburn braes,
Hey, and the rue grows bonnie wi' thyme,
And he had a wife was the plague o' his days,
And the thyme it is wither'd, and the rue is in prime.
There was an old farmer in Sussex did dwell,
And he had a bad wife, as many knew well.
Then Satan came to the old man at the plough,—
"One of your family I must have now.
"It is not your eldest son that I crave, 5
But it is your old wife, and she I will have."
"O welcome, good Satan, with all my heart!
I hope you and she will never more part."
Now Satan has got the old wife on his back,
And he lugged her along like a pedlar's pack. 10
He trudged away till they came to his hall-gate:
Says he, "Here, take in an old Sussex chap's mate.