No. 2: The Elfin Knight
[The Elfin Knight (Cambric Shirt, Roud 12) is best known as the immensely popular Scarborough Fair (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme). First popularized in the US by Bob Dylan, his original song, Girl From the North Country, was based loosely on the ballad. Scarborough Fair became internationally popular several years later when recorded by Simon and Garfunkel and featured in the 1967 hit movie, The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman. Curiously the movie was based on the book of that title by Charles Webb, a native of Long Beach, CA who is a guitar-playing relative of mine.
The events that led to the Simon and Garfunkel recording are these: In 1965 Paul Simon learned the song from Martin McCarthy in London. McCarthy's version was taken from Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger's songbook and shortened. The MacColl and Seeger's source was Mark Anderson, a retired lead-miner, at Middleton-in-Teasdale, Yorkshire, 1947 (ref. Malcolm Douglas).
Simon and Garfunkel's version combined "Scarborough Fair" with "Canticle," a reworked earlier song with anti-war lyrics. Released in 1966 as the lead track of the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, it was released as a single after being featured on the soundtrack to The Graduate in 1968.
(Listen: Scarborough Fair- Simon and Garfunkel)
Bob Dylan used McCarthy's arrangement for his song, "Girl from the North Country", which appeared on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963), Nashville Skyline (1969) (together with Johnny Cash), Real Live (1984) and The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration (1993).
Here's my flatpick version from Acoustic Music Source Book sung by my niece Kara. Below that are some standard lyrics:
Listen: Scarborough Fair (Richard Matteson w/ Kara Pleasants)
See my text in my book Acoustic Music Source Book; Bill's Music Shelf (Mel Bay Pub.) 2010 by Richard Matteson. Below is the first text (w/music) titled, Scarborough Fair. It was published by Frank Kidson in 1891.
SCARBOROUGH FAIR
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Remember me to one who lives there,
He once was a true love of mine.
Tell him to make me a cambric shirt,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Without a seam or needle work,
Then he'll be a true love of mine.
Tell him to wash it in yonder dry well
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Where water ne'er sprang, nor drop of rain fell
Then he'll be a true love of mine.
Tell him to dry it on yonder grey thorn
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Which ne'er bore blossom since Adam was born
Then he'll be a true love of mine.
Tell him to find me an acre of land
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Between the salt water and the sea strand
Then he'll be a true love of mine
Plow the land with the horn of a lamb
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Then sow some seeds from the north of the dam
Then he'll be a true love of mine
Tell him to reap it with a sickle of leather
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And tie up the sheaves with a rope made of heather
Then he'll be a true love of mine
If he tells me he can't I'll reply
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
"Let me know that at least you will try;"
Then he'll be a true love of mine
"Love imposes impossible tasks,"
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
"Though never more than your own heart asks,
And I must know you're a true love of mine"
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Remember me to one who lives there,
He once was a true love of mine.
See the headnotes for British & Other Versions for a detailed analysis of this British ballad,
R. Matteson 2014/2018]
CONTENTS of this page:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (added at the end of the Child's Narrative, instead of the bottom of each page)
3. Child's Ballad Texts A-M (M was added in a later edition. Another version of C (designate C b) was found in Kinlock's MS's, changes given in Additions and Corrections. Child adds in later editions (Additions and Corrections) a number of versions and variants without a letter designation. These versions designated A 1- A 8 are added at the bottom of the page as an Appendix. All of Child's English/Scottish versions with additional notes are listed under "English Versions and other Versions" on the left hand column attached to this page. The few US versions can be found in US & Canada Versions.)
4. End notes
5. Additions and Corrections (Texts and corrections added in later volumes)
6. Additional Child texts (My Appendix) Version A 1 to version A 8.
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: 2. Elfin Knight
A. Roud No. 12: Elfin Knight (260 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: Elfin Knight (Bronson's music examples and texts)
3. US and Canadian Versions:
4. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A-L)
Child's Narrative
A. 'A proper new ballad entitled The Wind hath blown my Plaid away, or, A Discourse betwixt a young [wo]man and the Elphin Knight;' a broadside in black letter in the Pepysian library, bound up at the end of a copy of Blind Harry's 'Wallace,' Edin. 1673.
B. 'A proper new ballad entitled The Wind hath blawn my Plaid awa,' etc. Webster, A Collection of Curious Old Ballads, p. 3.
C. 'The Elfin Knicht,' Kinloch's Anc. Scott. Ballads, p. 143.
D. 'The Fairy Knight,' Buchan, ii, 296.
E. Motherwell's MS., p. 492.
F. 'Lord John,' Kinloch MSS, I, 75.
G. 'The Cambrick Shirt,' Gammer Gurton's Garland, p. 3, ed. 1810.
H. 'The Deil's Courtship,' Motherwell's MS., p. 92.
I. 'The Deil's Courting,' Motherwell's MS., p. 103.
J. Communicated by Rev. Dr Huntington, Bishop of Western New York, as sung at Hadley, Mass.
K. Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes of England, p. 109, No 171, 6th ed.
L. Notes and Queries, 1st S., vii, 8.
[M. Findlay's Manuscripts, I, 21, from the recitation of Jeany Meldrum, Framedrum, Forfarshire.]
PINKERTON gave the first information concerning A, in Ancient Scotish Poems . . . from the MS. collections of Sir Richard Maitland, etc., II, 496, and he there printed the first and last stanzas of the broadside. Motherwell printed the whole in the appendix to his Minstrelsy, No I. What stands as the last stanza in the broadside is now prefixed to the ballad, as having been the original burden. It is the only example, so far as I remember, which our ballads afford of a burden of this kind, one that is of greater extent than the stanza with which it was sung, though this kind of burden seems to have been common enough with old songs and carols.[1]
The "old copy in black letter" used for B was close to A, if not identical, and has the burden-stem at the end like A. 'The Jockey's Lamentation,' Pills to Purge Melancholy, V, 317, has the burden,
'T is oer the hills and far away [trice],
The wind hath blown my plaid away.
The 'Bridal Sark,' Cromek's Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, p. 108, and 'The Bridegroom Darg,' p. 113, are of modern manufacture and impostures; at least, they seem to have imposed upon Cromek. [see both of Cromek's versions written by Cunningham attached to Recordings & Info page]
A like ballad is very common in German. A man would take, or keep, a woman for his love or his wife [servant, in one case], if she would spin brown silk from oaten straw. She will do this if he will make clothes for her of the linden-leaf. Then she must bring him shears from the middle of the Rhine. But first he must build her a bridge from a single twig, etc., etc. To this effect, with some variations in the tasks set, in
A. 'Eitle Dinge,' Rhaw, Bicinia (1545), Uhland, I, 14, No 4 A, Böhme, p. 376, No 293.
B. 'Van ideln unmöglichen Dingen,' Neocorus († c. 1630), Chronik des Landes Ditmarschen, ed. Dahlmann, p. 180 = Uhland, p. 15, No 4 B, Müllenhof, p. 473, Böhme, p. 376, No 294.
C. Wunderhorn, II, 410 [431] = Erlach, I, 441, slightly altered in Kretzschmer [Zuccalrnaglio], II, 620.
D. 'Unmöglichkeiten,' Schmeller, Die Mundarten Bayerns, p. 556.
E. Schlesische Volkslieder, p. 115, No 93.
F. 'Liebes-Neckerei,' Meier, Schwäbische V. L., p. 114, No 39.
G. 'Liebesspielereien,' Ditfurth, Fränkische V. L., II, 109, No 144.
H. 'Von eitel unmöglichen Dingen,' Erk's Liederhort, p. 337, No 152 b.
I. 'Unmögliches Begehren,' V. L. aus Oesterreich, Deutsches Museum, 1862, II, 806, No 16.
J. 'Unmögliche Dinge,' Peter, Volksthümliches aus Osterreichisch-Schlesien, I, 270, No 82.
In K, 'Wettgesang,' Meinert, p. 80, and L, Liederhort, p. 334, No 152, there is a simple contest of wits between a youth and a maid, and in M, Erk, Neue Sammlung, H. 2, No 11, p. 16, and N, 'Wunderbare Aufgaben,' Pröhle, Weltliche u. geistliche Volkslieder, p. 36, No 22 B, the wit-contest is added to the very insipid ballad of 'Gemalte Rosen.'
'Store Fordringar,' Kristensen, Jydske Folkeviser, I, 221, No 82, and ' Opsang,' Lindeman, Norske Fjeldmelodier, No 35 (Text Bilag, p. 6), closely resemble German M, N. In the Stev, or alternate song, in Landstad, p. 375, two singers vie one with another in propounding impossible tasks.
A Wendish ballad, Haupt and Schmaler, I, 178, No 151, and a Slovak, Celakowsky, II, 68, No 12 (the latter translated by Wenzig, Slawische Volkslieder, p. 86, Westslavischer Marchenschatz, p. 221, and Bibliothek Slavischer Poesien, p. 126), have lost nearly all their story, and, like German K, L, may be called mere wit-contests.
The Graidhne whom we have seen winning Fionn for husbaiid by guessing his riddles, p. 3, afterwards became enamored of Diarmaid, Fionn's nephew, in consequence of her accidentally seeing a beauty spot on Diarmaid's forehead. This had the power of infecting with love any woman whose eye should light upon it: wherefore Diarmaid used to wear his cap well down. Graidhne tried to make Diarmaid run away with her. But he said, "I will not go with thee. I will not take thee in softness, and I will not take thee in hardness; I will not take thee without, and I will not take thee within; I will not take thee on horseback, and I will not take thee on foot." Then he went and built himself a house where he thought he should be out of her way. But Graidhne found him out. She took up a position between the two sides of the door, on a buck goat, and called to him to go with her. For, said she, "I am not without, I am not within; I am not on foot, and I am not on a horse; and thou must go with me." After this Diarmaid had no choice. 'Diarmaid and Grainne,' Tales of the West Highlands, III, 39-49 ; 'How Fingal got Graine to be his wife, and she went away with Diarmaid,' Heroic Gaelic Ballads, p. 153; 'The Death of Diarmaid,' ib., p. 154. The last two were written down c. 1774.
In all stories of the kind, the person upon whom a task is imposed stands acquitted, if another of no less difficulty is devised which must be performed first. This preliminary may be something that is essential for the execution of the other, as in the German ballads, or equally well something that has no kind of relation to the original requisition, as in the English ballads.
An early form of such a story is preserved in Gesta Romanorum, c. 64, Oesterley, p. 374. It were much to be wished that search were made for a better copy, for, as it stands, this tale is to be interpreted only by the English ballad. The old English version. Madden, XLIII, p. 142, is even worse mutilated than the Latin. A king, who was stronger, wiser, and handsomer than any man, delayed, like the Marquis of Saluzzo, to take a wife. His friends urged him to marry, and he replied to their expostulations, "You know I am rich enough and powerful enough; find me a maid who is good looking and sensible, and I will take her to wife, though she be poor." A maid was found who was eminently good looking and sensible, and of royal blood besides. The king wished to make trial of her sagacity, and sent her a bit of linen three inches square, with a promise to marry her if she would make him a shirt of this, of proper length and width. The lady stipulated that the king should send her "a vessel in which she could work," and she would make the shirt:" michivas concedat in quo operari potero, et camisiam satis longam ei promitto." So the king sent "vas debitum et preciosum," the shirt was made, and the king married her.[2] It may be doubted whether the sagacious maid did not, in the unmutilated story, deal with the problem as is done in a Transylvanian tale. Haltrich, Deutsche Volksmarchen, u. s. w.. No 45, p. 245, where the king requires the maid to make a shirt and drawers of two threads. The maid, in this instance, sends the king a couple of broomsticks, requiring that he should first make her a loom and bobbin-wheel out of them.
The tale just cited, 'Der Burghüter und seine kluge Tochter,' is one of several which have been obtained from tradition in this century, that link the ballads of The Clever Lass with oriental stories of great age. The material points are these. A king requires the people of a parish to answer three questions, or he will be the destruction of them all: What is the finest sound, the finest song, the finest stone? A poor warder is instructed by his daughter to reply, the ring of bells, the song of the angels, the philosopher's stone. "Right," says the king, "but that never came out of your head. Confess who told you, or a dungeon is your doom." The man owns that he has a clever daughter, who had told him what to say. The king, to prove her sagacity further, requires her to make a shirt and drawers of two threads, and she responds in the manner just indicated. He next sends her by her father an earthen pot with the bottom out, and tells her to sew in a bottom so that no seam or stitch can be seen. She sends her father back with a request that the king should first turn the pot inside out, for cobblers always sew on the inside, not on the out. The king next demanded that the girl should come to him, neither driving, nor walking, nor riding; neither dressed nor naked; neither out of the road nor in the road; and bring him something that was a gift and no gift. She put two wasps between two plates, stripped, enveloped herself in a fishing-net, put her goat into the rut in the road, and, with one foot on the goat's back, the other stepping along the rut, made her way to the king. There she lifted up one of the plates, and the wasps flew away: so she had brought the king a present and yet no present. The king thought he could never find a shrewder woman, and married her.
Of the same tenor are a tale in Zingerle's Tyrolese Kinder u. Hausmärchen, 'Was ist das Schönste, Stärkste und Reichste?' No. 27, p. 162, and another in the Colshorns' Hanoverian Märchen u. Sagen, 'Die kluge Dirne,' No 26, p. 79. Here a rich and a poor peasant [a farmer and his bailiff] have a case in court, and wrangle till the magistrate, in his weariness, says he will give them three questions, and whichever answers right shall win. The questions in the former tale are: What is the most beautiful, what the strongest, what the richest thing in the world? In the other, What is fatter than fat? How heavy is the moon? How far is it to heaven? The answers suggested by the poor peasant's daughter are: Spring is the most beautiful of things, the ground the strongest, autumn the richest. And the bailiff's daughter answers': The ground is fatter than fat, for out of it comes all that's fat, and this all goes back again; the moon has four quarters, and four quarters make a pound; heaven is only one day's journey, for we read in the Bible, "Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise." The judge sees that these replies are beyond the wit of the respondents, and they own to having been prompted by a daughter at home. The judge then says that if the girl will come to him neither dressed nor naked, etc., he will marry her; and so the shrewd wench becomes a magistrate's wife.
'Die kluge Bauerntochter,' in the Grimms' K. u. H. märchen, No 94, and 'Die kluge Hirtentochter,' in Pröhle's Märchen für die Jugend, No 49, p. 181, afford another variety of these tales. A peasant, against the advice of his daughter, carries the king a golden mortar, as he had found it, without any pestle. The king shuts him up in prison till he shall produce the pestle [Grimms]. The man does nothing but cry, "Oh, that I had listened to my daughter!" The king sends for him, and, learning what the girl's counsel had been, says he will give her a riddle, and if she can make it out will marry her. She must come to him neither clothed nor naked, neither riding nor driving, etc. The girl wraps herself in a fishing-net [Grimms, in bark, Pröhle], satisfies the other stipulations also, and becomes a queen.[3]
Another story of the kind, and very well preserved, is No 25 of Vuk's Volksmärchen der Serben, 'Von dem Mädchen das an Weisheit den Kaiser übertraf,' p. 157. A poor man had a wise daughter. An emperor gave him thirty eggs, and said his daughter must hatch chickens from these, or it would go hard with her. The girl perceived that the eggs had been boiled. She boiled some beans, and told her father to be ploughing along the road, and when the emperor came in sight, to sow them and cry, "God grant my boiled beans may come up!" The emperor, hearing these ejaculations, stopped, and said, "My poor fellow, how can boiled beans grow?" The father answered, according to instructions, "As well as chickens can hatch from boiled eggs." Then the emperor gave the old man a bundle of linen, and bade him make of it, on pain of death, sails and everything else requisite for a ship. The girl gave her father a piece of wood, and sent him back to the emperor with the message that she would perform what he had ordered, if he would first make her a distaff, spindle, and loom out of the wood. The emperor was astonished at the girl's readiness, and gave the old man a, glass, with which she was to drain the sea. The girl dispatched her father to the emperor again with a pound of tow, and asked him to stop the mouths of all the rivers that flow into the sea; then she would drain it dry. Here upon the emperor ordered the girl herself be fore him, and put her the question, "What is heard furthest?" "Please your Majesty," she answered, "thunder and lies." The emperor then, clutching his beard, turned to his assembled counsellors, and said, "Guess how much my beard is worth." One said so much, another so much. But the girl said, "Nay, the emperor's beard is worth three rains in summer." The emperor took her to wife.
With these traditional tales we may put the story of wise Petronelle and Alphonso, king of Spain, told after a chronicle, with his usual prolixity, by Gower, Confessio Amantis, Pauli, I, 145 ff . The king valued himself highly for his wit, and was envious of a knight who hitherto had answered all his questions. Determined to confound his humbler rival, he devised three which he thought unanswerable, sent for the knight, and gave him a fortnight to consider his replies, which failing, he would lose his goods and head. The knight can make nothing of these questions, which are, What is that which needs help least and gets most? What is worth most and costs least? What costs most and is worth least? The girl, who is but fourteen years old, observing her father's heavy cheer, asks him the reason, and obtains his permission to go to court with him and answer the questions. He was to say to the king that he had deputed her to answer, to make trial of her wits. The answer to the first question is the earth, and agrees in the details with the solution of the query, What is fatter than fat? in the Tyrolese and the Hanoverian tale. Humility is the answer to the second, and pride the third answer. The king admires the young maid, and says he would marry her if her father were noble; but she may ask a boon. She begs for her father an earldom which had lately escheated; and, this granted, she reminds the king of what he had said; her father is now noble. The king marries her.
In all these seven tales a daughter gets her father out of trouble by the exercise of a superior understanding, and marries an emperor, a king, or at least far above her station. The Grimms' story has the feature, not found in the others, that the father had been thrown into prison. Still another variety of these stories, inferior, but preserving essential traits, is given by Schleicher, Litauische Märchen, p. 3, 'Vom schlauen Mädchen.'
A Turkish tale from South Siberia will take us a step further, 'Die beiden Fürsten,' Radloff, Proben der Volkslitteratur der türkischen Stämme Süd-Sibiriens, I, 197. A prince had a feeble-minded son, for whom he wished to get a wife. He found a girl gathering fire-wood with others, and, on asking her questions, had reason to be pleased with her superior discretion. He sent an ox to the girl's father, with a message that on the third day he would pay him a visit, and if by that time he had not made the ox drop a calf and give milk, he would lose his head. The old man and his wife fell to weeping. The daughter bade them be of good cheer, killed the ox, and gave it to her parents to eat. On the third day she stationed herself on the road by which the prince would come, and was gathering herbs. The prince asked what this was for. The girl said, "Because my father is in the pangs of child-birth, and I am going to spread these herbs under him." "Why," said the prince, "it is not the way, that men should bear children." "But if a man can't bear children," answered the girl, "how can an ox have, a calf?" The prince was pleased, but said nothing. He went away, and sent his messenger again with three stones in a bag. He would come on the third day, and if the stones were not then made into boots, the old man would lose his head. On the third day the prince came, with all his grandees. The girl was by the roadside, collecting sand in a bag. "What are you going to do with that sand?" asked the prince. "Make thread," said she. "But who ever made thread out of sand?" "And who ever made boots out of stones?" she rejoined. The prince laughed in his sleeve, prepared a great wedding, and married the girl to his son. Soon after, an other prince wrote him a letter, saying, "Do not let us be fighting and killing, but let us guess riddles. If you guess all mine, I will be your subject; if you fail, I will take all your having." They were a whole year at the riddles. The other prince "knew three words more," and threw ours into a deep dungeon. From the depths of this dungeon he contrived to send a profoundly enigmatic dispatch to his daughter-in-law, who understood everything, disguised herself as one of his friends, and proposed to the victor to guess riddles again. The clever daughter-in-law "knew seven words more" than he, took her father-in-law out of the dungeon, threw his rival in, and had all the people and property of the vanquished prince for her own.
This Siberian tale links securely those which precede it with a remarkable group of stories, covering by representatives still extant, or which may be shown to have existed, a large part of Asia and of Europe. This group includes, besides a Wallachian and a Magyar tale from recent popular tradition, one Sanskrit form; two Tibetan, derived from Sanskrit; one Mongol, from Tibetan; three Arabic and one Persian, which also had their source in Sanskrit; two Middle-Greek, derived from Arabic, one of which is lost; and two old Russian, from lost Middle-Greek versions.[4]
The gist of these narratives is that one king propounds tasks to another; in the earlier ones, with the intent to discover whether his brother monarch enjoys the aid of such counsellors as will make an attack on him dangerous; in the later, with a demand that he shall acquit himself satisfactorily, or suffer a forfeit: and the king is delivered from a serious strait by the sagacity either of a minister (whom he had ordered to be put to death, but who was still living in prison, or at least seclusion) or of the daughter of his minister, who came to her father's assistance. Which is the prior of these two last inventions it would not be easy to say. These tasks are always such as require ingenuity of one kind or another, whether in devising practical experiments, in contriving subterfuges, in solving riddles, or even in constructing compliments.[5]
One of the Tibetan tales, which, though dating from the beginning of our era, will very easily be recognized in the Siberian tradition of this century, is to this effect. King Rabssaldschal had a rich minister, who desired a suitable wife for his youngest son. A Brahman, his trusty friend, undertook to find one. In the course of his search, which extended through many countries, the Brahman saw one day a company of five hundred maidens, who were making garlands to offer to Buddha. One of these attracted his notice by her behavior, and impressed him favorably by replies to questions which he put.[6]
The Brahman made proposals to her father in behalf of the minister's son. These were accepted, and the minister went with a great train to fetch home the bride. On the way back his life was twice saved by taking her advice, and when she was domiciliated, she so surpassed her sisters-in-law in housekeeping talents and virtues that everything was put under her direction. Discord arose between the king of the country she had left and Rabssaldschal, under whom she was now living. The former wished to make trial whether the latter had an able and keen-witted minister or not, and sent him two mares, dam and filly, exactly alike in appearance, with the demand that he should distinguish them. Neither king nor counsellor could discern any difference; but when the minister's daughter heard of their difficulty, she said, "Nothing is easier. Tie the two together and put grass before them; the mother will push the best before the foal." This was done; the king decided accordingly, and the hostile ambassador owned that he was right. Soon after, the foreign prince sent two snakes, of the same size and form, and demanded which was male, which female. The king and his advisers were again in a quandary. The minister resorted to his daughter-in-law. She said, "Lay them both on cotton-wool: the female will lie quiet, the male not; for it is of the feminine nature to love the soft and the comfortable, which the masculine cannot tolerate." They followed these directions; the king gave his verdict, the ambassador acquiesced, the minister received splendid presents. For a final trial the unfriendly king sent a long stick of wood, of equal thickness, with no knots or marks, and asked which was the under and which the upper end. No one could say. The minister referred the question to his daughter. She answered, "Put the stick into water: the root end will sink a little, the upper end float." The experiment was tried; the king said to the ambassador, "This is the upper end, this the root end," to which he assented, and great presents were again given to the minister. The adverse monarch was convinced that his only safe course was peace and conciliation, and sent his ambassador back once more with an offering of precious jewels and of amity for the future. This termination was highly gratifying to Rabssaldschal, who said to his minister, How could you see through all these things? The minister said, It was not I, but my clever daughter-in-law. When the king learned this, he raised the young woman to the rank of his younger sister.
The wise daughter is not found in the Sanskrit tale,[7] which also differs from the Buddhist versions in this: that in the Sanskrit the minister had become an object of displeasure to the king, and in consequence had long been lying in prison when the crisis occurred which rendered him indispensable, a circumstance which is repeated in the tale of The Wise Heykar (Arabian Nights, Breslau transl., XIII 73 ff , Cabinet des Fées, XXXIX, 266 ff) and in the Life of Æsop. But The Clever Wench reappears in another tale in the same Sanskrit collection (with that express title), and gives her aid to her father, a priest, who has been threatened with banishment by his king if he does not clear up a dark matter within five days. She may also be recognized in Moradbak, in Von der Hagen's 1001 Tag, VIII, 199 ff, and even in the minister's wife in the story of The Wise Heykar.
The tasks of discriminating dam and filly and the root end from the tip end of a stick, which occur both in the Tibetan tales and the Shukasaptcati, are found again, with unimportant changes, in the Wallachian popular story, and the Hungarian, which in general resemble the Arabic. Some of those in the Arabian tale and in the Life of Æsop are of the same nature as the wit-trials in the Servian and German popular tales, the story in the Gesta Romanorum, and the German and English ballads. The wise Heykar, e.g., is required to sew together a burst mill-stone. He hands the king a pebble, requesting him first to make an awl, a file, and scissors out of that. The king of Egypt tells Æsop, the king of Babylon's champion sage, that when his mares hear the stallions neigh in Babylon, they cast their foal. Æsop's slaves are told to catch a cat, and are set to scourging it before the Egyptian public. Great offense is given, on account of the sacred character of the animal, and complaint is made to the king, who sends for Æsop in a rage. Æsop says his king has suffered an injury from this cat, for the night before the cat had killed a fine fighting-cock of his. "Fie, Æsop!" says the king of Egypt; "how could the cat go from Egypt to Babylon in one night?" "Why not," replies Æsop, "as well as mares in Egypt hear the stallions neigh in Babylon and cast their foal?"
The tales in the Shukasaptati and in the Dsanglun represent the object of the sending of the tasks to be to ascertain whether the king retains the capable minister through whom he has acquired supremacy. According to the Arabian tale, and those derived from it, tribute is to be paid by the king whose riddles are guessed, or by him who fails to guess. This form of story, though it is a secondary one, is yet by no means late, as is shown by the anecdote in Plutarch, Septem Sapientum Convivium (6), itself probably a fragment of such a story, in which the king of the Æthiops gives a task to Amasis, king of Egypt, with a stake of many towns and cities. This task is the favorite one of draining [drinking] all the water in the sea, which we have had in the Servian tale (it also is in the Life of Æsop), and Bias gives the customary advice for dealing with it.[8]
From the number of these wise virgins should not be excluded the king's daughter in the Gesta Romanorum who guesses rightly among the riddles of the three caskets and marries the emperor's son, though Bassanio has extinguished her just fame: Madden's Old English Versions, p. 238, No 66; Collier, Shakspere's Library, II, 102.
The first three or four stanzas of A-E form the beginning of 'Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight,' and are especially appropriate to that ballad, but not to this. The two last stanzas of A, B, make no kind of sense here, and these at least, probably the opening verses as well, must belong to some other and lost ballad. An elf setting tasks, or even giving riddles, is unknown, I believe, in Northern tradition, and in no form of this story, except the English, is a preternatural personage of any kind the hero. Still it is better to urge nothing more than that the elf is an intruder in this particular ballad, for riddle-craft is practised by a variety of preternatural beings: notoriously by Odin, Thor, the giant Vafþruðnir, and the dwarf Alwíss in the Edda, and again by a German "berggeist" (Ey, Harzmärchenbuch, p. 64, 'Die verwünschte Prinzessin'), a Greek dragon (Hahn, Griechische u. Albanesische Märchen, II, 210), the Russian rusalka, the Servian vila,[9] the Indian rakshas. For example: a rusalka (water-nymph) pursues a pretty girl, and says, I will give you three riddles: if you guess them, I will let you go home to your father; if you do not, I shall take you with me. What grows without a root? What runs without any object? What blooms without any flower? She answers, Stones grow without a root; water runs without any object; the fern blooms without any flower. These answers seem satisfactory, as riddles go, but the ballad concludes (with an injustice due to corruption?), "The girl did not guess the riddles: the rusalka tickled her to death." (Wojcicki, Pieśni, I, 205.) A rakshas (ogre) says he will spare a man's life if he can answer four questions, and shall devour him if he cannot. What is cruel? What is most to the advantage of a householder? What is love? What best accomplishes difficult things? These questions the man answers, and confirms his answers by tales, and gains the rakshas' "good will. (Jacob, Hindoo Tales, or the Adventures of Ten Princes, a translation of the Sanskrit Dasakumaracharitam, p. 260 ff.)
The auld man in I is simply the "unco knicht" of 1C, D, over again. He has clearly displaced the elf-knight, for the elf's attributes of hill-haunting and magical music remain, only they have been transferred to the lady. That the devil should supplant the knight, unco or familiar, is natural enough. He may come in as the substitute of the elfin knight because the devil is the regular successor to any heathen sprite, or as the embodiment of craft and duplicity, and to give us the pleasure of seeing him outwitted. We find the devil giving riddles, as they are called (tasks), in the Grimms' K. u. H. märchen, No 125 (see also the note in vol. III); Pröhle's K. u. V. märchen, No 19; Vernaleken, Oesterreichische K. u. H. märchen, No 37. He also appears as a riddle-monger in one of the best stories in the Golden Legend. A bishop, who was especially devoted to St. Andrew, was tempted by Satan under the semblance of a beautiful woman, and was all but lost, when a loud knocking was heard at the door. A pilgrim demanded admittance. The lady, being asked her pleasure about this, recommended that three questions should be put to the stranger, to show whether he were fit to appear in such presence. Two questions having been answered unexceptionably, the fiend proposed a third, which was meant to be a clincher: How far is it from earth to heaven? "Go back to him that sent you," said the pilgrim (none other than St. Andrew) to the messenger, "and say that he himself knows best, for he measured the distance when he fell." Antiquus hostis de medio evanuit. Much the same is related in the legend of St. Bartholomew, and, in a Slovenian ballad, of St. Ulrich, who interposes to save the Pope from espousing Satan in disguise. [10]
J, K, L, have completely lost sight of the original story.
Translated, after A, C, and D, in Grundtvig's Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, p. 251; R. Warrens, Schottische Lieder der Vorzeit, p. 8; Knortz, Lieder u. Romanzen Alt-Englands, No 54.
_________________________________________
Footnotes:
1. All that was required of the burden, Mr Chappell kindly writes me, was to support the voice by harmonious notes under the melody ; it was not sung after each half of the stanza, or after the stanza, and it was heard separately only when the voices singing the air stopped. Even the Danish ballads exhibit but a few cases of these " burden-stems," as Grundtvig calls them : see Danmarks Gamle Folkeviser, II, 221, B 1; 293, B 1; 393, A 1: in, 197, D; 470, A. Such burden-stems are, however, very common in Icelandic ballads. They are, for the most part, of a different metre from the ballad, and very often not of the same number of lines as the ballad stanza. A part of the burden stem would seem to be taken for the refrain; as Islenzk Fornkvieti, i, 30, of four verses, 1, 2, 4 ; 129, of two, the last half of the first and all the second; 194, of four, the last; 225, of five, the last two ; ii, 52, of five, the second and last two.
In later times the Danish stev-stamme was made to conform to the metre of the ballad, and sung as the first stanza, the last line perhaps forming the burden. Compare the stev-stamme, Grundtvig, iii, 470, with the first stanza of the ballad at p. 475. If not so changed, says Grundtvig, it dropped away. Lyngbye, at the end of his Fseroiske Qvaeder, gives the music of a ballad which he had heard sung. The whole stem is sung first, and then repeated as a burden at the end of every verse. The modern way, judging by Berggreen, Folke-Sange og Melodier, 3d ed., I, 352, 358, is simply to sing the whole stem after each verse, and so says Grundtvig, in, 200, D. The whole stem is appended to the last stanza (where, as usual, the burden, which had been omitted after stanza 1, is again expressed) in the Fieroe ballad in Grundtvig, III, 199, exactly as in our broadside, or in Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. iii. I must avow myself to be very much in the dark as to the exact relation of stem and burden.
2. Grundtvig has noticed the resemblance of G. R. 64 and the ballad. — Much of what follows is derived from the admirable Benfey's papers, ' Die klugo Dime, Die indischen Marchenvon den klugen Rathsellosem, und ihre Verbreitung liber Asien und Europa,' Auslaud, 1859, p. 457, 486, 511, 567, 589, in Nos 20, 21, 22, 24, 25.
3. Ragnar Loðbrók (Saga, c. 4, Rafn, Fomaldar Sögur, I, 245), as pointed out by the Grimms, notes to No 94, requires Kraka (Aslaug) to come to him clothed and not clothed, fasting and not fasting, alone and not without a companion. She puts on a fishing-net, bites a leek, and takes her dog with her. References for the very frequent occurrence of this feature may be found in Oesterley's note to Gesta Romanorum, No 124, at p. 732.
4. "Benfey, Das Ausland, 1859, p. 459. The versions referred to are: Shukasaptati (Seventy Tales of a Parrot), 47th and 48th night; the Buddhist Kanjur, Vinaya, in, fol. 71-83, and Dsanglun, oder der Weise u. der Thor, also from the Kanjur, translated by I.J. Schmidt, c. 23; the Mongol translation of Dsanglun [see Popow, Mongolische Chrestomathie, p. 19, Schiefner's preface to Radloff, i, xi, xii]; an imperfect Singhalese version in Spence Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, p. 220, 'The History of Wisákhá;" Geschichte des weisen Heykar,' 1001 Nacht, Habicht, v. d. Hagen u. Schall, XIII, 71, ed. 1840; 'Histoire de Sinkarib et de ses deux Visirs,' Cabinet des Fées, XXXIX, 266 (Persian); two old Russian translations of Greek tales derived from Arabic, Pypin, 'in the Papers of the Second Division of the Imperial Acad. of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 1858, iv, 63-85;' Planudes, Life of Æsop; A. and A. Schott, Walachische Mæhrchen, p. 125, No 9, 'Vom weissen und vom rothen Kaiser; 'Erdélyi, Népdalok és Mondák, III, 262, No 8, 'The Little Boy with the Secret and his Little Sword.' To these is to be added, 'L'Histoire de Moradbak,' Caylus, Nouveaux Contes Orientaux, Œuvres Badines, VII, 289 ff, Cabinet des Fées, xxv, 9-406 (from the Turkish?). In the opinion of Benfey, it is in the highest degree likely, though not demonstrable, that the Indian tale antedates our era by several centuries. Ausland, p. 511; see also pp. 487, 459.
5. Ingenuity is one of the six transcendental virtues of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, p. 36.
6. The resemblance to the Siberian tale is here especially striking.
7. The Shukasaptati, in the form in which we have them, are supposed to date from about the 6th century, and are regarded as abridgments of longer tales. The Vinaya probably took a permanent shape as early as the beginning of the Christian era. As already remarked, there is scarcely a doubt that the Indian story is some centuries older still.
8. Amasis in return (8) puts some of the questions which we are apt to think of as peculiarly mediæval: What is oldest? What is most beautiful, biggest, wisest, strongest? etc. Two of these we have had in Zingerle's story. They are answered in a commonplace way by the Æthiop, with more refinement by Thales. Seven similar questions were propounded by David to his sons, to determine who was worthiest to succeed him, and answered by Solomon, according to an Arabian writer of the 14th century: Rosenöl, I, 167. Amasis also sent a victim to Bias (2), and asked him to cut out the best and worst of the flesh. Bias cut out the tongue. Here the two anticipate the Anglo-Saxon Salomon and Saturn: "Tell me what is best and worst among men." "I tell thee word is best and worst:" Kemble, p. 188, No 37; Adrian and Ritheus, p. 204, No 43; and Bedæ Collectanea, p. 326. This is made into a very long story in the Life of Æsop, 11. See other examples in Knust, Mittheilungen aus dem Eskurial, p. 326 f, note b, and Nachtrag, p. 647; Oesterley's Kirchhof, v, 94, note to 3, 129; and Landsberger, Die Fabeln des Sophos, CX, ff. We may add that Plutarch's question, Which was first, the bird or the egg? (Quæst. Conviv. 1. 2, q. 3), comes up again in The Demaundes Joyous, No 41, Kemble's Salomon and Saturn, p. 290.
9. Afanasief, Poetic Views of the Slavonians about Nature, I, 25. The poludnitsa seems to belong to the same class: Afanasief, III, 76; Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, p. 147.
10. The legend of St. Andrew in Legenda Aurea, Grässe, cap. II, 9, p. 19 ff; also in the Fornsvenskt Legendarium, I, 143 ff; Zambrini, Leggende Inedite, II, 94 ff; Pitré, Canti pop. Siciliani, II, 232 ff: that of St. Bartholomew, Grässe, p. 545, cap. CXXIII, 5, and in a German Passional, Mone's Anzeiger, 1839, VIII, col. 319 f: that of St. Ulrich in Achazel and Korytko, I, 76, 'Svéti Ureh,' translated by A. Grün, Volkslieder aus Krain, p. 136 ff. The third question and answer are in all the same. St. Serf also has the credit of having baffled the devil by answering occult questions in divinity: Wintown's Scottish Chronicle, I, 131, v, 1238 ff, first pointed out by Motherwell, Minstrelsy, p. lxxiv, who besides cites the legend of St. Andrew.
Child's Ballad Texts A-M
'A proper new ballad entitled The Wind hath blown my Plaid away, or, A Discourse betwixt a young [wo]man and the Elphin Knight'- Version A; Child 2, Elfin Knight
A broadside in black letter, "printed, I suppose," says Pinkerton, "about 1670," bound up with five other pieces at the end of a copy of Blind Harry's 'Wallace,' Edin. 1673, in the Pepysian Library.
My plaid awa, my plaid awa,
And ore the hill aiul far awa,
And far awa to Norrowa,
My plaid shall not be blown awa.
1 The elphin knight sits on yon hill,
Ba, ba, ba. lilli ba
He blaws his horn both lowd and shril.
The wind hath blown my plaid awa
2 He blowes it east, he blowes it west,
He blowes it where he lyketh best.
3 'I wish that horn were in my kist.
Yea, and the knight in my armes two.'
4 She had no sooner these words said.
When that the knight came to her bed.
5 'Thou art over young a mauL' quoth he,
'Married with me thou il wouldst be.'
6 ' I have a sister younger than I,
And she was married yesterday.'
7 'Married with me if thou wouldst be,
A courtesie thou must do to me.
8 'For thou must shape a sark to me,
Without any cut or heme,' quoth he.
9 'Thou must shape it knife-and-sheerlesse.
And also sue it needle-threedlesse.'
10 'If that piece of courtesie I do to thee,
Another thou must do to me.
11 'I have an aiker of good ley-land.
Which lyeth low by yon searstrand.
12 'For thou must eare it with thy horn,
So thou must sow it with thy corn.
13 ' And bigg a cart of stone and lyme,
Robin Redbreast he must trail it hame.
14 'Thou must barn it in a mousc-holl,
And thrash it into thy shoes soil.
15 'And thou must winnow it in thy looff,
And also seek it in thy glove.
16 'For thou must bring it over the sea,
And thou must bring it dry home to me.
17 'When thou hast gotten thy turns well done,
Then come to me and get thy sark then.'
18 'I'll not quite my plaid for my life;
It haps my seven bairns and my Avife.'
The wind shall not blow my plaid awa
19 'My maidenhead I'll then keep still.
Let the elphin knight do what he will.'
The wind 's not blown my plaid awa
--------------------------------
'A proper new ballad entitled The Wind hath blawn my Plaid awa,' etc. Version B; Child 2, Elfin Knight
A Collection of Curious Old Ballads, etc., p. 3. Partly from an old copy in black letter, and partly from the recitation of an old lady.
My plaid awa, my plaid awa.
And owre the hills and far awa.
And far awa to Norrowa,
My plaid shall not be blawn awa.
1 The Elpliin knight sits on yon hill,
Ba, ba, ba, lillie ba
He blaws his horn baith loud and shrill.
The wind hath blawn my plaid awa
2 He blaws it east, he blaws it west,
He blaws it where he liketh best.
3 'I wish that horn were in my kist.
Yea, and the knight in my arms niest.'
4 She had no sooner these words said,
Than the knight came to her bed.
5 ' Thou art oer young a maid,' quoth he,
' Married with me that thou wouldst be.'
6 'I have a sister, younger than I,
And she was married yesterday.'
7 'Married with me if thou wouldst be,
A curtisie thou must do to me.
8 'It 's ye maun mak a sark to me,
Without any cut or seam,' quoth he.
9 'And ye maun shape it, knife-, sheerless,
And also sew it needle, threedless.'
10 'If that piece of courtisie I do to thee,
Another thou must do to me.
11 'I have an aiker of good ley land.
Which lyeth low by yon sea strand.
12 'It 's ye maun till 't wi your touting horn.
And ye maun saw 't wi the pepper corn.
13 'And ye maun harrow 't wi a thorn,
And hae your wark done ere the morn.
14 'And ye maun shear it wi your knife.
And no lose a stack o 't for your life.
15 'And ye maun stack it in a mouse hole,
And ye maun thrash it in your shoe sole.
16 'And ye maun dight it in your loof,
And also sack it in your glove.
17 'And thou must bring it over the sea,
Fair and clean and dry to me.
18 'And when that ye have done your wark,
Come back to me, and ye'll get your sark.'
19 'I'll not quite my plaid for my life ;
It haps my seven bairns and my wife.'
20 'My maidenliead I'll then keep still.
Let the elphin knight do what he will.
------------------------------------
'The Elfin Knicht'- Version C; Child 2, Elfin Knight
Kinloch's A. S. Ballads, p. 145. From the recitation of M. Kinnear, a native of Mearnsshire, 23 Aug., 1826.
1 There stands a knicht at the tap o yon hill,
Oure the lulls and far awa
He has blawn Ids horn loud and shill.
The cauld wind 's blawn my plaid awa
2 'If I had the horn that I hear blawn,
And the knicht that blaws that horn!'
3 She had na sooner thae words said,
Than the elfin knicht cam to her side.
4 'Are na ye oure young a may
Wi onie young man doun to lie? '
5 'I have a sister younger than I,
And she was married yesterday.'
6 'Married wi me ye sail neer be nana
Till ye mak to me a sark but a seam.
7 'And ye maun shape it knife-, sheer-less,
And ye maun sew it needle-, threed-less.
8 'And ye maun wash it in yon cistran,
Whare water never stood nor ran.
9 'And ye maun "dry it on yon hawthorn,
Whare the sun neer shon sin man was born.'
10 'Gin that courtesie I do for thee,
Ye maun do this for me.
11 'Ye'll get an acre o gude red-land
Atween the saut sea and the sand.
12 'I want that land for to be corn,
And ye maun aer it wi your horn.
13 'And ye maun saw it without a seed,
And ye maun harrow it wi a threed.
14 'And ye maun shear it wi your knife,
And na tyne a pickle o't for your life.
15 'And ye maun moue it in yon mouse-hole
And ye maun thrash it in your shoe-sole.
16 'And ye maun fan it wi your luves,
And ye maun sack it in your gloves.
17 'And ye maun bring it oure the sea,
Fair and clean and dry to me.
18 'And whan that your wark is weill deen,
Yese get your sark without a seam.'
----------------------------
'The Fairy Knight'- Version D; Child 2, Elfin Knight
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 296.
1 The Elfin knight stands on yon hill,
Blaw, blaw, blaw winds, blaw
Blawing his horn loud and shrill.
And the wind has blawin my plaid awa.
2 'If I had yon horn in my kist.
And the honny laddie here that I luve best!
3 'I hae a sister eleven years auld,
And she to the young men's bed has made bauld.
4 'And I myself am only nine,
And oh! sae fain, luve, as I woud be thine.'
5 'Ye maun make me a fine Holland sark.
Without ony stitching or needle wark.
6 'And ye maun wash it in yonder well,
Where the dew never wat, nor the rain ever fell.
7 'And ye maim dry it upon a thorn
That never budded sin Adam was born.'
8 'Now sin ye've askd some things o me,
It 's right I ask as mony o thee.
9 'My father he askd me an acre o land,
Between the saut sea and the strand.
10 'And ye maun plow 't wi your blawing horn,
And ye maun saw 't wi peppier corn.
11 'And ye maun harrow 't wi a single tyne,
And ye maun shear 't wi a sheep's shank bane.
12 'And ye maun big it in the sea.
And bring the stathle dry to me.
13 'And ye maun barn 't in yon mouse hole,
And ye maun thrash't in your shee sole.
14 'And ye maun sack it in your gluve,
And ye maun winno 't in your leave.
15 'And ye maun dry 't without candle or coal,
And grind it without quirn or mill.
16 'Ye'll big a cart o stane and lime.
Gar Robin Redbreast trail it syne.
17 'When ye've dune, and finishd your wark,
Ye'll come to me, luve, and get your sark.'
-------------------------------------
['The Elfin Knight']- Version E; Child 2, Elfin Knight
Motherwell's MS., p. 492.
1 The Elfin Knight sits on yon hill,
Ba ba lilly ba
Blowing his horn loud and shill.
And the wind has blawni my plaid awa
2 'I love to hear that horn blaw;
I wish him [here] owns it and a'.'
3 That word it was no sooner spoken,
Than ELfin Knight in her arms was gotten.
4 ' You must mak to me a sark,
Without threed, sheers or needle wark.'
--------------
'Lord John'- Version F; Child 2, Elfin Knight
Kinloch MSS, I, 75. From Mary Barr.
1 'Ded ye ever travel twixt Berwick and Lyne?
Sober and grave grows merry in time
There ye'll meet wi a handsome young dame,
Ance she was a true love o mine.
2 'Tell her to sew me a holland sark,
And sew it all -without needle-wark;
And syne we'll be true lovers again.
3 ' Tell her to wash it at yon spring-well,
Where neer wind blew, nor yet rain fell.
4 'Tell her to dry it on yon hawthorn,
That neer sprang up sin Adam was born.
5 'Tell her to iron it wi' a hot Iron,
And plait it a' in ae plait round.'
6 'Did ye ever travel twixt Berwick and Lyne?
There ye 'll meet wi a handsome young man,
Ance he was a true lover o mine.
7 'Tell him to plough me an acre o land
Betwixt the sea-side hot and the sea-sand,
And syne we'll be true lovers again.
8 'Tell him to saw it wi ae peck o corn,
And harrow it a' wi ae harrow tine.
9 ' Tell him to shear it wi ae hook-tooth.
And carry it hame just into his loof.
----------------------------
'The Cambrick Shirt'- Version G; Child 2, Elfin Knight
Gammer Gurton's Garland, p. 3, ed. 1810.
1 'Can you make me a cambrick shirt.
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Without any seam or needle work?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
2 'Can you wash it in yonder well.
Where never sprung water nor rain ever fell?
3 'Can you dry it on yonder thorn,
Which never bore blossom since Adam was born?
4 'Now you have askd me questions three,
I hope you'll answer as many for me.
5 'Can you find me an acre of land
Between the salt water and the sea sand?
6 'Can you plow it with a ram's horn,
And sow it all over with one pepper corn?
7 ' Can you reap it with a sickle of leather,
And bind it up with a peacock's feather ?
8 ' When you have done, and finishd your work.
Then come to me for your cambrick shirt.'
9. 'Tell him to sheer it it wi ae hook-tooth
An carry it hame just into his loof.'
10 ' Tell him to stack it in yon mouse-hole,
And thrash it a' just wi his shoe-sole.
11 ' Tell him to dry it on yon ribless kiln,
And grind it a' in yon waterless miln.
12 Tell this young man, whan he 's finished his wark,
He may come to me, and hese get his sark.'
------------------------------------
'The Deil's Courtship'- Version H; Child 2, Elfin Knight
Motherwell's MS., p. 92.
1 'Come, pretty Nelly, and sit thee down by me,
Every rose grows merry wi thyme
And I will ask thee questions three,
And then thou wUt be a true lover of mine.
2 'Thou must buy me a cambrick smock
Without any stitch of needlework.
3 'Thou must wash it in yonder strand,
Where wood never grew and water neer ran.
4 'Thou must dry it on yonder thorn,
Where the sun never shined on since Adam was formed.'
5 'Thou hast asked me questions three ;
Sit down till I ask as many of thee.
6 'Thou must buy me an acre of land
Betwixt the salt water, love, and the sea-sand.
7 'Thou must plow it wi a ram's horn,
And sow it aU over wi one pile o corn.
8 'Thou must shear it wi a strap o leather,
And tie it all up in a peacock feather.
9 'Thou must stack it in the sea,
And bring the stale o 't hame dry to me.
10 'When my love 's done, and finished his work.
Let him come to me for his cambric smock.'
---------------------------------
'The Deil's Courting'- Version I; Child 2, Elfin Knight
Motherwell's MS., p. 103. From the recitation of John McWhinnie, collier, Newtown Green, Ayr.
1 A LADY wonned on yonder hill,
Hee ba and balou ba
And she had musick at her will.
And the wind has blown my plaid awa
2 Up and cam an auld, auld man,
Wi his blue bonnet in his ban.
3 'I will ask ye questions three ;
Resolve them, or ye'll gang wi me.
4 'Ye maun mak to me a sark,
It maun be free o woman's wark.
5 'Ye maun shape it knife- sheerless,
And ye maun sew it needle- threedless.
6 'Ye maun wash it in yonder well,
T' whare rain nor dew has ever fell.
7 'Ye maun dry it on yonder thorn,
Where leaf neer grew since man was born.'
8 'I will ask ye questions three;
Resolve them, or ye'll neer get me.
9 'I hae a rig o bonnie land
Atween the saut sea and the sand.
10 'Ye maun plow it wi ae horse bane,
And harrow it wi ae harrow pin.
11 'Ye maun shear 't wi a whang o leather,
And ye maun bind 't hot strap or tether.
12 'Ye maun stack it in the sea,
And bring the stale hame dry to me.
13 'Ye maun mak a cart o stane,
And yoke the wren and bring it hame.
14 'Ye maun thresh 't atween your lufes,
And ye maun sack 't atween your thies.'
15 'My curse on those wha learned thee;
This night I weend ye 'd gane wi me.'
'Now you are a-going to Cape Ann'- Version J; Child 2, Elfin Knight
Communicated by Rev. F. D. Huntington, Bishop of Western New York, as sung to him by his father in 1828, at Hadley, Mass.; derived from a rough, roystering "character" in the town.
1 Now you are a-going to Cape Ann,
Follomingkathellomeday
Remember me to the self-same man.
Ummatiddle, uramatiddle, ummatallyho, tallyho, follomingkathellomeday
2 Tell him to buy me an acre of land
Between the salt-water and the sea-sand.
3 Tell him to plough it with a ram's horn,
Tell him to sow it with one peppercorn.
4 Tell him to reap it with a penknife.
And tell him to cart it with two mice.
5 Tell him to cart it to yonder new barn
That never was built since Adam was born.
6 Tell him to thrash it with a goose quill,
Tell him to fan it with an egg-shell.
7 Tell the fool, when he 's done his work.
To come to me, and he shall have his shirt.
-------------------------------------
'Sing Ivy'- Version K; Child 2, Elfin Knight
Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes of England, 6th ed., p. 109, No 171.
1 My father left me three acres of land,
Sing ivy, sing ivy
My father left me three acres of land.
Sing holly, go wliistle and ivy
2 I ploughed it with a ram's horn,
And sowed it all over with one pepper com.
3 I harrowed it with a bramble bush.
And reaped it with my little penknife.
4 I got the mice to carry it to the barn,
And thrashed it with a goose's quill.
5 I got the cat to carry it to the mill;
The miller he swore he would have her paw,
And the cat she swore she would scratch his face.
'Sing Ivy'- Version L; Child 2, Elfin Knight
Notes and Queries, 1st S., VII, 8. Signed D.
1 My father gave me an acre of land,
Sing ivy, sing ivy
My father gave me an acre of land.
Sing green bush, holly and ivy
2 I ploughd it with a ram's horn.
3 I harrowd it with a bramble.
4 I sowd it with a pepper corn.
5 I reapd it with my penknife.
6 I carried it to the mill upon the cat's back.
7 I made a cake for all the king's men.
--------------
Version M; Child 2 The Elfin Knight
Findlay's Manuscripts, I, 21, from the recitation of Jeany Meldrum, Framedrum, Forfarshire. Similar to F-H: Notes and Queries, 4th Series, III, 605, communicated by W.F., Glasgow, from a manuscript collection.
1 As I went up to the top o yon hill,
Every rose springs merry in' t' time
I met a fair maid, an her name it was Nell.
An she langed to be a true lover o mine
2 'Ye'll get to me a cambric sark,
Every rose springs merry in' t' time
An sew it all over without thread or needle.
Before that ye be a true lover o mine
3 'Ye'll wash it doun in yonder well,
Every rose springs merry in' t' time
Where water neer ran an dew never fell.
Before that ye be a true lover o mine
4 'Ye'll bleach it doun by yonder green,
Every rose springs merry in' t' time
Where grass never grew an wind never blew.
Before that ye be a true lover o mine
5 'Ye'll dry it doun on yonder thorn,
Every rose springs merry in' t' time
That never bore blossom sin Adam was born.'
Before that ye be a true lover o mine
6 'Four questions ye have asked at me,
Every rose springs merry in' t' time
An as mony mair ye'll answer me.
Before that ye be a true lover o mine
7 'Ye'll get to me an acre o land
Every rose springs merry in' t' time
Atween the saut water an the sea sand.
Before that ye be a true lover o mine
8 'Ye'll plow it wi a ram's horn,
Every rose springs merry in' t' time
An sow it all over wi one peppercorn.
Before that ye be a true lover o mine
9 'Ye'll shear it wi a peacock's feather,
Every rose springs merry in' t' time
An bind it all up wi the sting o an adder.
Before that ye be a true lover o mine
10 'Ye'll stook it in yonder saut sea,
Every rose springs merry in' t' time
An bring the dry sheaves a' back to me.
Before that ye be a true lover o mine
11 'An when ye've done and finished your wark,
Every rose springs merry in' t' time
Ye'll come to me, an ye'se get your sark.'
An then shall ye be true lover o mine
* * * *
End Notes
A. The verses here prefixed to the ballad are appended to the last stanza in the broadside.
For Norrowa, c. 3, Pinkerton has To-morrow.
91, needle and sheerlesse.
B. 'A Proper New Ballad entitled The Wind hath blawn my Plaid awa, or a Discourse between a Young "Woman and the Elphin Knight. To be sung with its own proper tune.'
"This ballad is printed partly from an old copy in black letter, and partly from the recitation of an old lady, which appears to be the Scottish version, and is here chiefly adhered to."
D. 32 hae made.
91. askd should perhaps be left, or gave, as in
E. Burden2, in MS., 1, blown her; 2, 3, blawn her; 4, blawn my.
21, blow;
22 and a.
H. 11. He speaks, in the margin of MS.
Burden1, time in margin.
51. Maid speaks, in margin.
I. Not divided regidarly into stanzas in the MS.
42. needlewark in margin.
102. shin ? in margin.
L. After 6: "Then follows some more which I forget, but I think it ends thus."
Additions and Corrections
P. 7 b, IH, 496 a, IV, 439 a. ' Store Fordringer,' Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, XI, 175, No 66 (three copies), 294, No 4. 'Umulige Fordringer,' Kristensen, Efterslset til Skattegraveren, p. 20, No 16.
14 a, H, 495. After the note to 14 a at II, 495, add : C. R. Lanman.
17. Communicated by Mr Walker, of Aberdeen, as sung, 1893, by John Walker, Portlethen; learned by him from his father, above fifty years before.
1 There was a knight on the head o yon hill
Blowing his horn lood and shrill.
Blow, blow, blow the wind, blow
2 ' Ye 'se get to me a camrick sark
Without ae steek o needlewark.
3 ' An ye will wash it in a wall
Where rain never fell nor water sprang.
4 ' An ye sail dry it on a thorn
That never wis sprung sin Adam was born.'
5 ' Ye 'se gie me an acre o red Ian
Atween the see an the watery san.
6 ' An ye will plough it wi yer horn,
An sa it a' wi ae pick o corn.
7 ' . . . . . . . . . . .
An cat it doon wi a sheepshank bone.
8 ' An ye will big it in the sea,
An bring the foonshief dry to me.
9 ' An when ye have done and finished yer wark,
Come in, Jock Sheep, an ye '11 get yer sark.'
As delivered, 5-8 precede 2-4.
17, 484 b. M. Findlay's MSS, I, 21, from the recitation of Jeany Meldrum, Framedrum, Forfarshire.
17, II, 495 b. In The Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore and Legend, III, 7, 'Whittingham Fair' is given by Mr Stokoe with a few variations.
1. Second line of refrain,
For once she was a true lover of mine.
2. 4. Second line of refrain,
Then she shall be a true lover.
3. Second line of refrain,
And she shall be a true lover.
5. Second line of refrain,
Before he shall be a true lover.
6. Second line of refrain,
Then he shall be a true lover.
7. 8, 9. Second line of refrain,
And he shall be a true lover.
61. to buy. 81. to sheer't
After 8: Tell him to thrash it on yonder wall,
And never let one corn of it fall.
Then he shall be a true lover of mine.
17, 484 f., II, 495 f., IV, 439 f.
'Scarborough Fair,' taken down by H. M. Bower, December, 1891, from William Moat, a Whitby fisherman. English County Songs, by Lucy E. Broadwood and J. A. Fuller Maitland, 1893, p. 12.
1 ' Is any of you going to Scarborough Fair?
Remember me to a lad as lives there;
Remember me to a lad as lives.there;
For once he was a true lover of mine. (Second line always twice.)
2 ' Tell him to bring me an acre of land
Betwixt the wild ocean and yonder sea sand;
And then he shall be a true lover of mine.
3 ' Tell him to plough it with one ram's horn,
And sow it all over with one pepper corn;
And then he shall be a true lover of mine.
4 ' Tell him to reap it with sickle of leather,
And bind it together with one peacock-feather;
And then he shall be a true lover of mine.
5 'And now I have answered your questions three,
I hope you'll answer as many for me;
And then thou shalt be a true lover of mine.'
6 'Is any of you going to Scarborough Fair?
Remember me to a lass as lives there;
For once she was a true lover of mine.
7 'Tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Without any needles or thread, or owt through';
And then she shall be a true lover of mine.
8 'Tell her to wash it by yonder wall,
Where water neer sprung, nor a drop o rain fall;
And then she shall be a true lover of mine.
9 'Tell her to dry it on yonder thorn,
Where blossom neer grew sin Adam was born;
And then she shall be a true lover of mine.
10 'And now I have answered your questions three,
And I hope you'll answer as many for me ;
And then thou shalt be a true lover of mine.'
Rev. S. Baring-Gould gives me these variations, from the West of England:
' O tell her to bleach it on yonder fresh grass,
Where never a foot or a hoof did pass.'
' O tell him to thresh it in yonder barn,
That hangs to the sky by a thread of yarn.' (Dartmoor.)
'Pray take it up in a bottomless sack,
And every leaf grows merry in time
And bear it to the mill on a butterfly's back.
O thus you shall be a true lover of mine' (Cornwall.)
------------------------------------------
Appendix- Additional Texts
Version A.1
Communicated by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould. "From the north of Cornwall, near Camelford. This used to be sung as a sort of game in farm-houses, between a young man who went outside the room and a girl who sat on the settle or a chair, and a sort of chorus of farm lads and lasses. Now quite discontinued." The dead lover represents the auld man.
1 A fair pretty maiden she sat on her bed,
The wind is blowing in forest and town
She sighed and she said, O my love he is dead!
And the wind it shaketh the acorns down
2 The maiden she sighed; 'I would,' said she,
'That again my lover might be with me!'
3 Before ever a word the maid she spake,
But she for fear did shiver and shake.
4 There stood at her side her lover dead;
'Take me by the hand, sweet love,' he said.
5. . . . . .
. . . . .
6 'Thou must buy me, my lady, a cambrick shirt,
Whilst every grove rings with a merry antine
And stitch it without any needle-work.
O and thus shalt thou be a true love of mine
7 'And thou must wash it in yonder well,
Whilst, etc.
Where never a drop of water in fell.
O and thus, etc.
8 'And thou must hang it upon a white thorn
That never has blossomed since Adam was born.
9 'And when that these tasks are finished and done
I'll take thee and marry thee under the sun.'
10 'Before ever I do these two and three,
I will set of tasks as many to thee.
11 'Thou must buy for me an acre of land
Between the salt ocean and the yellow sand.
12 'Thou must plough it oer with a horse's horn,
And sow it over with one peppercorn.
13 'Thou must reap it too with a piece of leather,
And bind it up with a peacock's feather.
14 'And when that these tasks are finished and done,
O then will I marry thee under the sun.'
15 'Now thou hast answered me well,' he said,
The wind, etc.
'Or thou must have gone away with the dead.'
And the wind, etc.
16. . . . . .
. . . . .
Version A. 2
Communicated by Mr Walker, of Aberdeen, as sung, 1893, by John Walker, Portlethen; learned by him from his father, above fifty years before.
1 There was a knight on the head o yon hill
Blowing his horn lood and shrill.
Blow, blow, blow the wind, blow
2 'Ye'se get to me a camrick sark
Without ae steek o needlewark.
3 'An ye will wash it in a wall
Where rain never fell nor water sprang.
4 'An ye sall dry it on a thorn
That never wis sprung sin Adam was born.'
5 'Ye'se gie me an acre o red lan
Atween the see an the watery san.
6 'An ye will plough it wi yer horn,
An sa it a' wi ae pick o corn.
7 '. . . . .
An cut it doon wi a sheepshank bone.
8 'An ye will big it in the sea,
An bring the foonshief dry to me.
9 'An when ye have done and finished yer wark,
Come in, Jock Sheep, an ye'll get yer sark.'
Version A. 3
'Scarborough Fair,' taken down by H. M. Bower, December, 1891, from William Moat, a Whitby fisherman. English County Songs, by Lucy E. Broadwood and J. A. Fuller Maitland, 1893, p. 12.
1 'Is any of you going to Scarborough Fair?
Remember me to a lad as lives there;
Remember me to a lad as lives there;
For once he was a true lover of mine.
(Second line always twice.)
2 'Tell him to bring me an acre of land
Betwixt the wild ocean and yonder sea sand;
And then he shall be a true lover of mine.
3 'Tell him to plough it with one ram's horn,
And sow it all over with one pepper corn;
And then he shall be a true lover of mine.
4 'Tell him to reap it with sickle of leather,
And bind it together with one peacock-feather
And then he shall be a true lover of mine.
5 'And now I have answered your questions three,
I hope you'll answer as many for me;
And then thou shalt be a true lover of mine.'
6 'Is any of you going to Scarborough Fair?
Remember me to a lass as lives there;
For once she was a true lover of mine.
7 'Tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Without any needles or thread, or owt through't;
And then she shall be a true lover of mine.
8 'Tell her to wash it by yonder wall,
Where water neer sprung, nor a drop o rain fall;
And then she shall be a true lover of mine.
9 'Tell her to dry it on yonder thorn,
Where blossom neer grew sin Adam was born;
And then she shall be a true lover of mine.
10 'And now I have answered your questions three,
And I hope you'll answer as many for me;
And then thou shalt be a true lover of mine.'—
Version A. 4
Rev. S. Baring-Gould gives me these variations, from the West of England:
'O tell her to bleach it on yonder fresh grass,
Where never a foot or a hoof did pass.'
'O tell him to thresh it in yonder barn,
That hangs to the sky by a thread of yarn.'
(Dartmoor.)
'Pray take it up in a bottomless sack,
And every leaf grows merry in time
And bear it to the mill on a butterfly's back.
O thus you shall be a true lover of mine.'
(Cornwall.)
Version A. 5
Mr Frank Kidson has given a copy of 'Scarborough Fair,' with some better readings, as sung "in Whitby streets twenty or thirty years ago," in Traditional Tunes, p. 43, 1891.
1 'O, where are you going?' 'To Scarborough fair,'
Savoury sage, rosemary, and thyme;
'Remember me to a lass who lives there,
For once she was a true love of mine.
2 'And tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Savoury sage, rosemary, and thyme;
Without any seam or needlework.
And then she shall be a true love of mine.
3 'And tell her to wash it in yonder dry well,
Where no water sprung, nor a drop of rain fell.
4 'Tell her to dry it on yonder thorn,
Which never bore blossom since Adam was born.
5 'O, will you find me an acre of land,
Savoury sage, rosemary, and thyme;
Between the sea foam, the sea sand,
Or never be a true lover of mine.
6 'O, will you plough it with a ram's horn,
And sow it all over with one peppercorn.
7 'O, will you reap it with a sickle of leather,
And tie it all up with a peacock's feather.
8 'And when you have done and finished your work,
Savoury sage, rosemary, and thyme;
You may come to me for your cambric shirt,
And then you shall be a true lover of mine.'
Version A. 6
The Journal of American Folk-Lore, VII, 228f, gives the following version, contributed by Miss Gertrude Decrow of Boston, in whose family the song has been traditional.
1 As I walked out in yonder dell,
Let ev'ry rose grow merry in time
I met a fair damsel, her name it was Nell,
I said, 'Will you be a true lover of mine?
2 'I want you to make me a cambric shirt
Without any seam or needlework,
And then you shall be, etc.
3 'I want you to wash it on yonder hill,
Where dew never was nor rain never fell.
4 'I want you to dry it on yonder thorn,
Where tree never blossomed since Adam was born.'
5 'And since you have asked three questions of me,
Let ev'ry rose grow merry in time
Now and I will ask as many of thee,
And then I will be a true lover of thine.
6 'I want you to buy me an acre of land
Between the salt sea and the sea-sand,
And then, etc.
7 'I want you to plough it with an ox's horn,
And plant it all over with one kernel of corn.
8 'I want you to hoe it with a peacock's feather,
And thrash it all out with the sting of an adder,
And then,' etc.—
Version A. 7
A variety of F, G, Bruce and Stokoe, Northumbrian Minstrelsy, p. 79; The Denham Tracts, II, 358, from D. D. Dixon's tractate on The Vale of Whittingham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1887. 'Whittingham Fair,' popular in the north and west of the county of Northumberland; usually sung as a nursery-ballad.
1 'Are you going to Whittingham fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
Remember me to one who lives there;
For once she was a true-love of mine.
2 'Tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Without any seam or needlework.
3 'Tell her to wash it in yonder well,
Where never spring-water nor rain ever fell.
4 'Tell her to dry it on yonder thorn,
Which never bore blossom since Adam was born.'
5 'Now he has asked me questions three,
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
I hope he will answer as many for me;
For once he was a true-love of mine.
6 'Tell him to find me an acre of land
Betwixt the salt water and the sea-sand.
7 'Tell him to plough it with a ram's horn,
And sow it all over with one pepper-corn.
8 'Tell him to reap it with a sickle of leather,
And bind it up with a peacock's feather.
9 'When he has done, and finished his work,
O tell him to come, and he'll have his shirt.'
Version A. 8
Another variety of F, G, communicated by Mr Frank Kidson, Leeds, 1884; from tradition.
1 'Oh where are you going?' 'To Scarbro fair.'
Savoury, sage, rosemary and thyme
'Remember me to a lass who lives there;
For once she was a true lover of mine.
2 'And tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Without a needle or thread or ought else;
And then she shall be a true lover of mine.
3 'And tell her to wash it in yonder well,
Where water neer sprung nor a drop of rain fell;
And then, etc.
4 'And tell her to hang it on yonder stone,
Where moss never grew since Adam was born.
5 'And when she has finished and done, her I'll repay,
She can come unto me and married we'll be.'
6 'Oh where are you going?' 'To Scarbro fair.'
'Remember me to a lad who lives there;
For once he was a true lover of mine.
7 'And tell him to buy me an acre of land
Between the wide ocean and the sea-sand
And then he, etc.
8 'And tell him to plough it with a ram's horn,
And sow it all over with one pepper-corn.
9 'And tell him to reap't with a sickle of leather,
And bind it up with a peacock's feather.
10 'And when he has finished, and done his work,
He can come unto me for his cambric shirt.'