“The Filer”
Description
Recitation. On a spree, Jim McCloud tells his foreman to cut off his leg, as it's loose. The foreman offers to cut Jim's head (his "weakest part") off instead. Jim answers that a foreman doesn't need to use his head, but a filer does, so he'll keep it
Long description
Recitation; Jim McCloud is a filer of saws in a lumber-camp; a drinker, he's sometime gone for a week at a time. After one of these sprees, he tells his foreman to cut off his leg, as it's loose. The foreman says that's too hard a job for him, and offers to cut Jim's head off instead, "as that is your weakest part." Jim replies that while a foreman doesn't need to use his head, a filer does, so he'll keep it.
Notes
This, like the other pieces probably written by Ellsworth, does not seem to have entered oral tradition. - PJS
References
- Beck 99, "The Filer" (1 text)
- Roud #8878
- BI, Be099