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Sharp's Notes: No. 1. The False Knight upon the Road.
Texts without tunes:—Child, No. 3. Compare, also, "Harpkin," Chambers's Popular
Rhymes of Scotland, p. 66. Texts with tunes:—Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. xxiv., and tune No. 32.
Child, v., 411. American variant:—Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxiv., 344.
The Introduction to version A, "A knight met a child on the road," sung by the singer by way of preface, is very unusual, if not unique.
Ballad Index: Fause Knight Upon the Road, The [Child 3]
DESCRIPTION: A grown man (knight, churl, demon) meets a schoolboy on the road. The schoolboy matches wits with the man, finding a defense or matching insult for each thrust, and so survives
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1827 (Motherwell, _Minstrelsy: Ancient and Modern_)
KEYWORDS: contest Devil virtue questions
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland) US(Ap,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (24 citations):
Child 3, "The Fause Knight Upon the Road" (3 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #8}
Bronson 3, "The Fause Knight Upon the Road" (10 versions plus 2 in addenda)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 11-14, "The False Knight Upon the Road" (1 text)
Belden, p. 4, "The False Knight Upon the Road" (1 text)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 46-47, "The False Knight on the Road" (1 text) {Bronson's #10}
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 79-81, "The False Knight Upon the Road" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #10}
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 119-121, "The False Knight Upon the Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
Davis-Ballads 2, "The Fause Knight Upon the Road" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #4}
Davis-More 3, pp. 14-15, "The Fause Knight Upon the Road" (1 fragmentary text)
Brewster 2, "The False Knight Upon the Road" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3}
Creighton/Senior, p. 1, "The False Knight upon the Road" (1 text plus 1 excerpt, 1 tune) {Bronson's #2}
Creighton-NovaScotia 1, "False Knight Upon the Road" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #9}
Manny/Wilson 51, "The False Knight Upon the Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
PBB 13, "Harpkin"; 14, "The False Knight Upon the Road" (2 texts)
Niles 3 "The False Knight Upon the Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 2 "The False Knight Upon the Road" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #5, #6}
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 2, "The False Knight Upon the Road" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5}
OBoyle 13, "The Knight On the Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 197, "(O, where are you going?)" (1 text)
TBB 31, "The False Knight upon the Road" (1 text)
LPound-ABS, 20, p. 48, "The False Knight" (1 text)
DT 3, FALSKNGT* FALSKNT2*
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 62-64, "The Fause Knight and the Wee Boy"; p. 66, "Harpkin"
Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #344, "The False Knight Upon the Road" (1 text);cf. the notes to #343, with "Meet-on-the-Road," evidently a literary rewrite
Roud #20
RECORDINGS:
Edmund Henneberry [and Kenneth Faulkner], "The False Knight Upon the Road" (on NovaScotia1) {Bronson's #9}
Duncan McPhee, "The False Knight Upon the Road (on FSBBAL1)
Frank Quinn, "The False Knight [Up]on the Road" (on FSB4, FSBBAL1)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Devil and the Schoolchild
The False Knight
The Smart Schoolboy
The Knight on the Road
NOTES: One of Child's three texts is "Harpkin," which he places in an appendix. The two are distinct in plot ("Harpkin" is apparently a contest between two rivals; "The Fause Knight" involves an innocent youth), but the form of the two is so similar that they cannot be reliably distinguished.
Bertrand Bronson discusses the original form of this ballad in "The Interdependence of Ballad Tunes and Texts" (first printed in the California Folklore Quarterly, II, 1944; see now MacEdward Leach and Tristram P. Coffin, eds, The Critics and the Ballad. The relevant discussion is on pages 80-82).
American versions of this piece can be quite degenerate. Pound's text, for instance, sounds very much like a schoolyard quarrel, except that one of the disputants is "false knight Munro." But he sounds just like a bully: "Give your lunch to my dog or I'll throw you down the well." The boy responds by throwing Munro down the well first.
In the "strange footnotes" department, this has to be one of the few ballads to have been turned into a comic book by a famous Hollywood writer. Sing Out!, volume 40, #4 (1996) contains an illustrated version "The False Knight on the Road" by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess. - RBW
RECORDINGS: The False Knight On the Road [Ch 3/Sh 2]
Clayre, Alasdair (ed.) / 100 Folk Songs and New Songs, Wolfe, Sof (1968), p 92 (Fause Knicht Upon the Road)
Wells, Evelyn Kendrick (ed.) / The Ballad Tree, Ronald, Bk (1950), p174 (False Knight Upon the Road)
Blue Velvet Band. Silver Meteor; A Progressive Country Anthology, Sierra/Briar SRS 8706, LP (1980), trk# 11 (Knight on the Road)
Blue Velvet Band. Sweet Moments with the Blue Velvet Band, Warner W 1802, LP (1969), trk# A.03 (Knight Upon the Road)
Christl, Margaret. Looking Towards Home, Canadian River LLR 3529 C, Cas (1984), trk# A.02a
Coates, Mrs. T. G. Sharp, Cecil & Maude Karpeles (eds.) / Eighty English Folk Songs from th, MIT Press, Sof (1968), p 22 [1917ca]
Coates, Mrs. T. G. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 3/# 2A [1916/09/01]
Coolfin. Coolfin, Metro Blue 7243 4 83542, CD (1998), trk# 7 (False Fly)
Gentry, Jane Hicks. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 4/# 2B [1916/09/12]
Gentry, Jane Hicks. Smith, Betty N. / Jane Hicks Gentry. A Singer Among Singers, U. Ky, Sof (1998), p140/# 1 [1916/09/12] (False Knight in the Road)
Hart, Tim; and Maddy Prior. Summer Solstice, Shanachie 79046, LP (1984), trk# A.01
Henneberry, Edmund. Folk Music from Nova Scotia, Folkways FM 4006, LP (1961), trk# B.13a
Hickerson, Joe. Joe Hickerson, Folk Legacy FSI 039, CD (1970), trk# 13 (Devil and the Schoolchild)
Johns, Mrs. J. D.. Pound, Louise (ed.) / American Ballads and Songs, Scribner, Sof (1972/1922), p 48/# 20 [1916]
Kennedy, Norman. Ballads and Songs of Scotland, Folk Legacy FSS 034, LP (1968), trk# 5
Langstaff, John. Nottamun Town, Revels 2003, CD (2003/1964), trk# 1
Long, Maud Gentry. Anglo-American Songs and Ballads, Library of Congress AFS L21, LP (196?), trk# B.04 [1947]
Long, Maud Gentry. McNeil, W. K. (ed.) / Southern Folk Ballads, Vol 2, August House, Sof (1988), p119 [1936/06/28]
McPherson, James. Moore, Ethel & Chauncey (ed.) / Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest, Univ. of Okla, Bk (1964), p 11/# 3 [1940s]
Muller, Eric. Muller, Eric & Barbara Koehler / Frailing the 5-String Banjo, Mel Bay, Sof (1973), p75 (Fause Knight on the Road)
Quinn, Frank. Folk Songs of Britain, Vol 4. The Child Ballads, I, Caedmon TC 1145, LP (1961), trk# A.02 [1950s]
Saletan, Tony and Irene. Continuing Tradition. Volume 1: Ballads. A Folk Legacy Sampler, Folk Legacy FSI 075, LP (1981), trk# A.01
Seeger, Peggy. Blood and Roses, Vol. 1, Blackthorne ESB 79, LP (1979ca), trk# B.03
Smith, Betty. Songs Traditionally Sung in North Carolina, Folk Legacy FSA 053, LP (1975), trk# 2
Steeleye Span. Lark in the Morning, Castle Music CMCD 781, CD (2003/1972), trk# 1.18 [1970] (Knight on the Road)
Wolford, Preston. Niles, John Jacob / Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles, Bramhall House, Bk (1961), p 21/N 3 [1935] (Smart Schoolboy)
False Knight Upon the Road [Ch 3]
Us - Knight on the Road
Faulkner, Mr.; and Ben Henneberry. Creighton, Helen / Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia, Dover, sof (1996/1933), p 1/# 1 [1927-32]
No. 1. The False Knight Upon the Road
A. The False Knight Upon the Road
Sung by Mrs. T. G. Coaxes
Hexatonic. Mode 4, b. at Flag Pond, Tenn., Sept. 1, 1916
1. The knight met a child in the road,
O, where are you going?
Says the knight in the road.
I'm going to my school,
Said the child as he stood.
He stood and he stood,
It's well because he stood.
I'm a -going to my school,
Said the child as he stood.
2. O what are you going there for ?
For to learn the Word of God.
3 O what have you got there?
I have got my bread and cheese.
4 O won't you give me some?
No, ne'er a bite nor crumb.
5 I wish you was on the sands,
Yes, and a good staff in my hands.
6 I wish you was in the sea,
Yes, and a good boat under me.
7 I think I hear a bell,
Yes, and it's ringing you to hell.
B. The False Knight Upon the Road
Sung by Mrs. Jane Gentry
Pentatonic. Mode 3, b (no 6th). at Hot Springs, N. C, Sept. 12, 1916
1. Where are you going? Says the knight in the road.
I'm go- ing to my school, said the child as he stood.
He stood and he stood,
He well thought on he stood.
I'm a - go -ing to my school,
said the child as he stood.
2 What are you eating?
I'm a-eating bread and cheese.
3. I wish'd you was in the sea.
A good boat under me.
4. I wish'd you was in the well.
And you that deep in hell.
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