Roger Welsch used to contribute stories he called “Postcards from Nebraska’’ to the CBS show “Sunday Morning.’’ He’s a historian of folklore and humor from the Great Plains who has written dozens of books on the subject. His friend and fellow Nebraskan Dick Cavett wrote the foreword to Welsch’s newest volume “Why I’m an Only Child: And Other Slightly Naughty Plains Folktales’’ (University of Nebraska). Welsch characterizes the stories he tells as “civil ribaldry.’’ They encompass love, lust, farm animals, food, religion, and a host of other subjects.

JAN GARDNER