Ballad of Frank Melton

When Frank Melton was a boy, he helped his grandmother in the garden. One day he was picking butterbeans a few rows behind his grandmother, and a snake poked it's head through the leaves. It said:

"Frank Melton, follow me Frank Melton. Stop pickin those butter beans, and follow me. I wanna show you somethin."

Little Frank stared at it. He said. "I ain't followin no devil. You just go on back, cause I already knows you the devil."

"I aint no devil Frank Melton. I'm snake. I'm a snake Frank Melton. Put that bucket down. I wanna show you somethin."

Frank grabbed the snake by the neck and pulled it out of the vines. "I told you mean ole devil, but you ain't gone listen. I'm gone teach you. I'm gone clean you up." Frank took the snake and tied it up to a tree limb and finished helping his grandmother. His grandmother asked him: Was that the devil? Frank said yes mam, and asked her what he could do to teach the devil to behave.

She said: "You caint fix that devil, but if you take him by the tail and slig him round and round your head, he'll give you three wishes." Frank went over and untied the snake. He grabbed it by the tail and slung it in a circle around his head. "Lemme go Frank Melton. Quit it quit it! Lemme goh,woh,woh,woh", the snake yelled. Then Frank's grip slipped and the snake flew threw the air toward his grandmother. She screamed. The snake landed in her hair and dug into it. The snake said:

"Frank Melton, I'm gonna bite your grandmamma if you don't do what I say. You hear?"

"Alright Devil. Alright Devil."

"You can't live here in Texas no more. You too much a cowboy. You got to leave right now."

"Alright Devil. But one day I'm gone find you again. And I'm gone sling you around my head and you gone let me back in Texas. You hear devil. You caint keep a cowboy outta Texas and that is the bottom line."

"Git on Frank Melton."

Well the rest is history. Frank still lives in Texas and spends a lot of time there, so he basically lied to the devil, but hey, it's the devil.