Slow, Ernie

New Zealand, (1891-1960)

Bray Kills a Pig

  1. Bray was the butcher
  2. The helper was I
  3. So we heated the water
  4. And into the sty
  5. A stab of the knife
  6. A spurt of the blood
  7. And his life it departed
  8. As he lay in the mud.
  9.  
  10. The body it changeth
  11. The head it grew bald
  12. For the Boss was delighted
  13. To have such a scald
  14.  
  15. The pig it was fat
  16. And with praises did sing
  17. As he whipped in the knife
  18. And changed the whole thing
  19.  
  20. For straight down the belly
  21. His knife did clutch
  22. When out it came flying
  23. A barrow of guts
  24.  
  25. Enid stood waiting
  26. her heart never gladder
  27. Oh Daddy dear Daddy
  28. Just give me the bladder
  29.  
  30. Oh Godfrey he wants it
  31. As upward he struts
  32. When lo and behold
  33. He was smothered in guts
  34.  
  35. We pulled him up skyward
  36. We heard a great thud
  37. As down he came flying
  38. Once more in the mud.
  39.  
  40. The Boss he was angry
  41. For alas and alack
  42. We scalded him white
  43. And now he is black. And
  44.  
  45. Next morning we found him
  46. As hard as a stone
  47. Set from the belly
  48. Right to the backbone.
  49. We carried him homeward
  50. As heavy as lead
  51. One slash with knife
  52. And off came the head.
  53.  
  54. It rolled off the table
  55. The Boss gave a shout
  56. It landed on Edgar
  57. And flattened him out.
  58.  
  59. His mother was angry
  60. Her face it grew red
  61. She hipped up the window
  62. And tossed out the head.
  63.  
  64. Mid fighting of cats
  65. And fighting of dogs
  66. It’s into the washhouse
  67. now under logs.
  68.  
  69. The dogs they were hungry
  70. Their stomachs high geared
  71. In the course of a minute
  72. The head disappeared.
  73.  
  74. Back to the body
  75. We worked without pause
  76. Mid slashing of knives
  77. And rasping of saws.
  78.  
  79. We looked at the pieces
  80. With prospects assuring
  81. As it lay in the tub
  82. All ready for curing.
  83.  
  84. Godfrey’s recovering
  85. Though still in bed
  86. And the dogs they will bark
  87. When you mention pigs head.
  88.  
  89. So farmers of Sherwood
  90. When slaughtering your hogs
  91. Take care of your children
  92. And tie up your dogs.

Editor’s Note:

This poem is about S.P. Bray killing a hog at Lilydale Station, with his children Enid, Godfrey and Edgar getting in the way. Bray is Sidney Prosper (S.P.) Bray, (1883-1960) owner of Lilydale Station, Sherwood Downs, Fairlie, New Zealand, at the beginning of the Mackenzie Country.

The poet, Ernie Slow, worked on Lilydale for S.P. Bray in the 1920s and also at one of his properties in Middle Valley for many years. In the 1940s Slow milked the two house cows, attended the garden at Lilydale and lived in a hut behind the house.

Pig killing was only attempted when frosts had set in really hard. The day before wood would be collected for boiling the water in the copper and a pulley and rope system hung from a tree with a bar to pull the carcass up to make dressing easier.

There were no freezers in those days and the pig sides were placed in a barrel filled with a brine for four days and hams for twelve days turning by hand each day. The meat would keep for a year stored in a wire mesh safe stuck in a tree so the dogs wouldn’t get at it.

 Ernie Slow. South Canterbury GenWeb, a part of the New Zealand GenWeb Project, a genealogical or historical interest web site managed by Olwyn Whitehouse..

About the Poet:

Earnist ‘Ernie’ Slow, New Zealand, (1891-1960), was a poet, but supported himself throughout his life as a shepherd, rabbiter, fencer and for years a gun shearer. Friends said there was not a station job he could not do. The most noted of South Canterbury ballad writers, Slow was based in Fairlie, but was often camped away, working up on the Mackenzie Country stations.

All the above occupations Slow was particularly good at. It was not unusual for Ernie to sleep out under some snowgrass when on fencing jobs up in the Mackenzie. He got the contract for erecting the first telephone line from the main highway down to Black Forest Station which was a distance of approximately 30 miles. Slow also erected the snow-line fence on Glentanner Station at a time when he was quite old.

Slow, being a well built man, short in stature, only worked when he needed money and he was was noted for being a hard worker, for living a life of self reliance. He was also considered a bit eccentricity, but his kind nature reflected in his gentleness with dogs and horses. Presently, there are only17 known poems of Ernie Slow. [DES-03/18]

Additional information:

  • The Ballad of Ernie Slow – As far back as the 1920’s, folks throughout New Zealand’s Mackenzie Country have spoken of Ernest (Ernie) Slow. Here is a biography and copies of all of Ernie’s famous ballads and poetry, some of which have never previously been published.