Ed de Moel

Child Ballads - Additions and Corrections

4. Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight

P. 22. E is given from singing and recitation in Shropshire Folk-Lore, edited by Charlotte Sophia Burne, 1883-86, p. 548.

Mr. W.H. Babcock has recently printed the following version, as sung in a Virginian family from "the corner between the Potomac and the Blue Ridge:" The Folk-Lore Journal, VII, 28.

Wilson

1   Wilson, sitting in his room one day,
With his true-love on his knee,
Just as happy as happy could be, be, be,
Just as happy as happy could be,
2   'Do you want for fee?' said she,
'Or do you want for gold?
Or do you want a handsome ladye,
More handsomer than me?'
3   'I do want for fee,' said he,
'And I do want for gold;
But I don't want a handsomer ladye,
More handsomer than thee.
4   'Go get some of your father's fee,
And some of your father's gold,
And two of the finest horses he has,
And married we will be, be, be,
And married we will be.'
5   She mounted on the milk-white steed.
And he the iron-grey,
And when they got to the broad waterside
It was six hours and a half till day.
6   'Get down, get down! my pretty fair maid,
Get down, get down!' said he;
'For it's nine of the king's daughters I 've drowned here,
And the tenth one you shall be.
7   Take off, take off that costly silk,
For it is a costly thing;
It cost your father too much bright gold
To drown your fair body in.
8   'In stooping down to cut the cords round,
Sing, Turn your back on me;'
And with all the strength this lady had,
She pushed him right into the sea.
9   'Help me out! my pretty fair miss,
O help me out!' said he,
'And we'll go down to the Catholic church,
And married we will be.'
10   'Lie there, lie there! you false-hearted man,
Lie there, lie there!' said she,
'For it's nine of the king's daughters you've drowned here,
But the tenth one's drowned thee.'
11   She mounted on the milk-white steed,
And led the iron-grey,
And when she got to her own father's house
It was three hours and a half till day.
12   While she was walking in the room,
Which caused the parrot to wake,
Said he, What's the matter, my pretty fair miss,
That you're up so long before day?
13   'Hush up, hush up! my pretty little parrot,
Don't tell no tales on me;
Your cage shall be lined with sweet may gold,
And the doors of ivorie.'
14   While they were talking all of this,
Which caused the old man to wake,
Said, What's the matter, my pretty little parrot,
That you chatter so long before day?
15   'The cat she sprung against my cage,
And surely frightened me,
And I called for the pretty fair miss
To drive the cat away.'

(1 lacks the third verse; in 21,2, 31,2, 41,2, fee and gold should be exchanged; in 122, 142, wake should perhaps be say.)

26 b. Add these Danish copies: Kristensen, Skattegraveren, I, 210 ff., Nos 1198, 1199. (Some stanzas of 'Kvindemorderen' are inserted in No 932, III, 177.)

29, 34 f. O, P. O is repeated in Lütolf, Sagen, Bräuche u. Legenden, u.s.w., p. 71, No 29, 'Schön Anneli;' P in Kurz, Aeltere Dichter, u.s.w., der Schweizer, I, 117. 'Schön Anneli,' Töbler, Schweizerische Volkslieder, II, 170, No 6, is an edited copy, mainly O, with use of P.

42. A variety of A in Revue des Traditions populaires, II, 293, communicated by A. Gittée, Chanson wallonne, de Bliquy, environs d'Ath.

42 f. A robber has his hand cut off by a girl. Later he marries her. The day after the marriage they go on horseback to see his relations. On coming to a wood he says, Do you remember the night when you cut off my hand? It is now my turn. He orders her to strip, threatening her with his dagger. When she is in her shift, she begs him to turn away his eyes, seizes the dagger, and cuts his throat. 'Le Voleur des Crêpes,' Sébillot, Contes pop. de la Haute-Bretagne, I, 341, No 62. (G.L.K.)

43 b. 'La Fille de Saint-Martin,' etc. Add: Rolland, II, 171, obtained by Nérée Quépat.

44 a. Nigra, Canti popolari del Piemonte, 1888, p. 90 ff., No 13, 'Un' Eroina,' gives five unpublished versions (B-F), 'La Monferrina,' D, being A of this large and beautiful collection.

Add also: Giannini, Canti p. della Montagna Lucchese, 1889, p. 143, 'La Liberatrice;' Finamore, Storie p. abruzzesi, in Archivio, I, 207, 'Lu Pringepe de Meláne.'

44 b. 'Il Corsaro,' in Nigra's collection, No 14, p. 106 ff., with the addition of another version. For 'La Monferrina incontaminata,' see Nigra again, 'La Fuga,' No 15, pp. III ff.; Finamore, in Archivio, I, 87, 'La Fandell' e lu Cavaljiere ' (mixed).

Spanish. Nos 38-41, 'Venganza de Honor,' No 42, 'La Hija de la Viudina,' Pidal, Asturian Romances, have the incident of the girl's killing with his own sword or dagger a caballero who offers her violence. The weapon is dropped in the course of a struggle in all but No 40; in this the damsel says, Give me your sword, and see how I would wear it.

It is a commonplace for a pair on horseback to go a long way without speaking. So Pidal, pp. 114, 115, 130, 133, 135, 159:

  Siete leguas anduvieron
sin hablar una palabra.

60 a. A. Burden. The song in the Tea-Table Miscellany and the music are found in John Squair's Manuscript, fol. 22, Laing collection, library of the University of Edinburgh, handwriting about 1700. (W. Macmath.)

This page most recently updated on 12-Jun-2011, 16:50:41.
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