Child No. 3: The Fause Knight upon the Road (Roud 20)
[Although considered a riddle ballad (Edmunds 1985), Child No. 3 is not so much about riddles as it is about the symbolism of good or innocence (the child) versus evil (the devil or false knight). The homiletic (moral and religious) message is clear, that the devil must be confronted and overcome. The child, who is seven (the age of moral judgement), is going to school and when confronted by the devil on the road, rebukes him through a series of seemingly innocent questions and answers. And still the child stood.
Originally Scottish and Irish, this ballad has been found in the southern US mountains by Sharp in 1916 and more recently it's surfaced in Canada where it has received new life as the French-Canadian "Où Vas-tu, mon P'tit Garçon?" (Where Are You Going My Little Boy?). Extant Canadian versions (Henneberry- Nova Scotia) have a refrain that has become attached to the melody of a fiddle reel, Flower of Edinburgh. More recent British traditional versions have taken the title "False False Fly," related to other traditional versions and cover versions with titles like "The False Fidee." See also: The False False Fly- Canadian singer-songwriter Jane Siberry.
Child has less to say about this old ballad than No. 1 or No. 2. Bronson gives 10 texts (see: Sheet Music), Roud 20 gives 82 versions (see: attachment to Recording & Info page. Neither Bronson or Roud mention the "Où Vas-tu, mon P'tit Garçon?" or "False False Fly" titles.
See: British and Other Versions headnotes for more information.
R. Matteson 2011]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A-C (Child also gives a Swedish version and a Scottish version, Harpkin in his Narrative. Another version by Macmath, designated C by Child appears in "Additions and Corrections.")
5. "Additions and Corrections"
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: Fause Knight upon the Road
A) Fause Knight upon the Road: A Reappraisal
B) The Fause Knight upon the Road- MacSweeney
C) Fause Knight: Roud Index Listing
2. Sheet Music: Fause Knight upon the Road (Bronson's texts and some music)
3. US & Canadian Versions
4. English Versions and Other Versions
Child's Narrative
A. 'The Fause Knight upon the Road,' Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Introduction, p. LXXIV.
B. 'The False Knight,' Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix, Musick, p. xxiv.
[C. 'The False Knight,' communicated by Mr. Macmath, of Edinburgh.]
This singular ballad is known only through Motherwell. The opening stanza of a second version is given by the editor of the music, Mr. Blaikie, in the Appendix to the Minstrelsy. The idea at the bottom of the piece is that the devil will carry off the wee boy if he can nonplus him. So, in certain humorous stories, a fool wins a princess by dumfounding her: e. g., Halliwell's Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales, p. 32; Von der Hagen's Gesammtabenteuer, No 63, III, 179; Asbjørnsen og Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr, No 4. But here the boy always gets the last word. (See further on, under 'Captain Wedderburn's Courtship.') An extremely curious Swedish ballad of the same description, from the Lappfiord, Finland, with the substitution of an old crone, possibly a witch, and clearly no better than one of the wicked, for the false knight, is given by Oskar Rancken in Några Prof af Folksång och Saga i det svenska Österbotten, p. 25, No 10. It is a point in both that the replicant is a wee boy (gossen, som liten var).
1 'Why are you driving over my field?' said the carlin:
'Because the way lies over it,' answered the boy, who was a little fellow.
2 'I will cut [hew] your traces,' said etc.:
'Yes, you hew, and I'll build,' answered etc.
3 'I wish you were in the wild wood:'
'Yes, you in, and I outside.'
4 'I wish you were in the highest tree-top:'
'Yes, you up in the top, and I at the roots.'
5 'I wish you were in the wild sea:'
'Yes, you in the sea, and I in a boat.'
6 'I'll bore a hole in your boat:'
'Yes, you bore, and I'll plug.'
7 'I wish you were in hell:'
'Yes, you in, and I outside.'
8 'I wish you were in heaven:'
'Yes, I in, and you outside.'
Chambers, in his Popular Rhymes of Scotland, p. 66 of the new edition, gives, without a word of explanation, a piece, 'Harpkin,' which seems to have been of the same character, but now sounds only like a "flyting."[1]
The first stanza would lead us to expect that Harpkin is to be a form of the Elfin Knight of the preceding ballad, but Fin is seen to be the uncanny one of the two by the light of the other ballads. Finn (Fin) is an ancestor of Woden, a dwarf in Völuspá 16 (19), and also a trold (otherwise a giant), who is induced by a saint to build a church: Thiele, Danske Folkesagn, I, 45, Grimm, Mythologie, p. 455. The name is therefore diabolic by many antecedents.
HARPKIN
1 Harpkin gaed up to the hill,
And blew his horn loud and shrill,
And by came Fin.
2 'What for stand you there?' quo Fin:
'Spying the weather,' quo Harpkin.
3 'What for had you your staff on your shouther?' quo Fin:
'To haud the cauld frae me,' quo Harpkin.
4 'Little cauld will that haud frae you,' quo Fin:
'As little will it win through me,' quo Harpkin.
5 'I came by your door,' quo Fin:
'It lay in your road,' quo Harpkin.
6 'Your dog barkit at me,' quo Fin:
'It's his use and custom,' quo Harpkin.
7 'I flang a stane at him,' quo Fin:
'I'd rather it had been a bane,' quo Harpkin.
8 'Your wife 's lichter,' quo Fin:
'She'll clim the brae the brichter,' quo Harpkin.
9 'Of a braw lad bairn,' quo Fin:
'There'll be the mair men for the king's wars,' quo Harpkin.
10 'There's a strae at your beard,' quo Fin:
'I'd rather it had been a thrave,' quo Harpkin.
11 'The ox is eating at it,' quo Fin:
'If the ox were i the water,' quo Harpkin.
12 'And the water were frozen,' quo Fin:
'And the smith and his fore-hammer at it,' quo Harpkin.
13 'And the smith were dead,' quo Fin:
'And another in his stead,' quo Harpkin.
14 'Gift, gaff,' quo Fin:
'Your mou 's fou o draff,' quo Harpkin.
The peit (peat) in st. 3, below, as I am informed by Dr Davidson, is the wee boy's contribution to the school firing.
Footnote:
1. At the last moment I come upon this: "The only safeguard against the malice of witches is 'to flight wi dem,' that is, draw them into a controversy and scold them roundly:" (Mrs. Saxby, in an interesting contribution of folk-lore from Unst, Shetland, in The Leisure Hour, for March 27, 1880, p. 199.) This view, which has apparently affected 'Harpkin,' is clearly a modern misunderstanding. Let no one trust to scolding for foiling a witch, unless he "knows more words."
Brief by Kittredge
This singular ballad is known only through Motherwell. The idea at the bottom of the piece is that the devil will carry off the wee boy if he can nonplus him. There is a curious Swedish ballad of the same description, in which an old crone, possibly a witch, is substituted for the false knight.
Child's Ballad Texts A-C; (Harpkin & Swedish ballad appear at the end)
'The Fause Knight upon the Road'- Version A; Child 3, The Fause Knight upon the Road
Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Introduction, p. lxxiv. From Galloway.
1 'O WHARE are ye gaun?'
Quo the fause knicht upon the road:
'I'm gaun to the scule.'
Quo the wee boy, and still he stude.
2 'What is that upon your back?' quo etc.
'Atweel is my bukes,' quo etc.
3 'What's that ye've got in your arm?'
'Atweel it is my peit.'
4 'What's aucht they sheep?'
'They are mine and my mither's.'
5 'How monie o them are min?'
'A' they that hae blue tails.'
6 'I wiss ye were on yon tree:'
'And a gude ladder under me.'
7 'And the ladder for to break:'
'And you for to fa down.'
8 'I wiss ye were in yon sie:'
'And a gude bottom under me.'
9 'And the bottom for to break:'
'And ye to be drowned.'
-----------------
'The False Knight'- Version B; Child 3, The Fause Knight upon the Road
Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. xxiv, No xxxii.
'O WHARE are ye gaun? 'quo the false knight,
And false, false was his rede:
'I'm gaun to the scule,' says the pretty little boy
And still, still he stude.
---------------------
'The False Knight'- Version C; Child 3, The Fause Knight upon the Road
Obtained by Mr Macmath from the recitation of his aunt, Miss Jane Webster, formerly of Airds of Kells, Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, Galloway, who learned it many years ago from the wife of Peter McGuire, then cotman at Airds.
1 ‘O whare are ye gaun?’
Says the false knight upon the road:
‘I am gaun to the schule,’
Says the wee boy, and still he stood.
2 ‘What’s that ye hae on your back?’
‘It’s my dinner and my book.’
3 ‘Wha’s aught the sheep on yonder hill,’
‘They are my papa’s and mine.’
4 ‘How many of them’s mine?’
‘A’ them that has blue tails.’
5 ‘I wish you were in yonder well:’
‘And you were down in hell.’
-----------------
Swedish Version
From Lappfiord, Finland. An old crone is in place of the false knight.
1 'Why are you driving over my field' said the carlin:
'Because the way lies over it,' answered the boy, who was little fellow.
2 'I will cut [hew] your traces, said etc.:
'Yes, you hew, and I'll build,' answered etc.
3 'I wish you were in the wild wood:'
'Yes, you in, and I outside.'
4 'I wish you were in the highest tree-top:'
'Yes, you up in the top, and I at the roots.'
5 'I wish you were in the wild sea:'
'Yes, you in the sea, and I in a boat.'
6 'I'll bore a hole in your boat:'
'Yes, you bore, and I'll plug.'
7 'I wish you were in hell:'
'Yes, you in, and I outside.'
8 'I wish you were in heaven:'
'yes, in, and you outside.'
Harpkin
In Chambers, Popular Rhymes of Scotland, p. 66
1 HARPKIN gaed up to the hill,
And blew his horn loud and shrill,
And by came Fin.
2 'What for stand you there?' quo Fin:
'Spying the weather,' quo Harpkin.
3 'What for had you your staff on your shoulder?' quo Fin:
'To haud the cauld frae me,' quo Harpkin.
4 'Little cauld will that haud frae you,' quo Fin:
'As little will it win through me,' quo Harpkin.
5 'I came by your door,' quo Fin:
'I lay it your road,' quo Harpkin.
6 'Your dog barkit at me,' quo Fin:
'It's his use and custom,' quo Harpkin.
7 'I flang a stane at him,' quo Fin:
'I'd rather it had been a bane,' quo Harpkin.
8 'Your wife's a lichter,' quo Fin:
'She'll clim the brae the brichter,' quo Harpkin.
9 'Of a braw lad bairn,' quo Fin:
'There'll be the mair men for the king's wars,' quo Harpkin.
10 'There's a strae at your beard,' quo Fin:
'I'd rather it had been a thrave,' quo Harpkin.
11 'The ox is eatin at it,' quo Fin:
'If the ox were i the water,' quo Harpkin.
12 'And the water were frozen,' quo Fin:
'And the smith and his fore-hammer at it,' quo Harpkin.
13 'And the smith were dead,' quo Fin:
'And another in his stead,' quo Harpkin.
14 'Giff, gaff,' quo Fin:
'Your mou's fou o draff,' quo Harpkin.
Additions and Corrections:
P. 20 a. Add: C. 'The False Knight,' communicated by Mr. Macmath, of Edinburgh.
For the fool getting the last word of the princess, see, further, Köhler, Germania, XIV, 271; Leskien u. Brugman, Litauische Volkslieder u. Märchen, p. 469, No 33, and Wollner's note, p. 573.
21, note. I must retract the doubly hasty remark that the Shetland belief that witches may be baflled by fliting with them is a modern misunderstanding.
Mr. George Lyman Kittredge has called my attention to Apollonius of Tyana's encounter with an empusa between the Caucasus and the Indus. Knowing what the spectre was, Apollonius began to revile it, and told his attendants to do the same, for that was the resource, in such cases, against an attack. The empusa went off with a shriek. Philostratus's Life of Apollonius, II, 4. Mr. Kittredge referred me later to what is said by Col. Yule (who also cites Philostratus), Marco Polo, I, 183, that the wise, according to Mas'udi, revile ghúls, and the ghúls vanish. Mr. Kittredge also cites Luther's expericnce: how, when he could not be rid of the Devil by the use of holy writ and serious words, "so hätte er ihn oft mit spitzigen Worten und lächerlichen Possen vertrieben; ... quia est superbus spiritus, et non potest ferre contemptum sui." Tischreden, in Auswahl, Berlin, 1877, pp 152-154.
Sprites of the more respectable orders will quit the company of men if scolded: Walter Mapes, De Nugis Curialium, ed. Wright, p. 81, Alpenburg, Deutsche Alpensagen, p. 312. No 330, So Thetis, according to Sophocles, left Peleus when he reviled her: Scholia in Apollonii Argonautica, IV, 816. (Mannhardt, Wald- und Feldkulte, II, 60, 68.)
22. Add version C.
P. 21, note, and p. 485. "Die Windsbraut soll man brav schelten, sich selber aber bekreuzigen, dann weicht sie. Sie ist des Teufels Braut. Wo eine Windsbraut auffährt, ist eine Hexe aufgesprungen." Birlinger u. Buck, Volksthümliches aus Schwaben, I, 192, No 304. G.L.K.
21. Finnur is a trold in a corresponding Icelandic story, Árnason, Íslenzkar Þjóðsögur, I, 58. G.L.K.
See, for Finn and Finns, Karl Blind in The Contemporary Review, XL, 402 ff., 1881; also, 'The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry,' No 113, II, 494.
P. 485 a, and p. 21, note. See, further, on reproaching or insulting elves and the like, Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, pp. 54-56: Cassel, Der Schwan, 1863, p. 14. F. Liebrecht.
Bladé, Contes populaires de la Gascogue, II, 8, 9. G.L.K.
485 b. C. The second stanza was accidentally omitted. It is:
'What 's that ye hae on your back?'
'It 's my dinner and my book.'
Pp. 20, 485 (also, 14 a, 484 a), III, 496 a. Foiling mischievous sprites and ghosts by getting the last word, or prolonging talk till the time when they must go, especially the noon-sprite: Wisła, III, 275 f., and notes 44-6; also, 269 f. The Wends have the proverbial phrase, to ask as many questions as a noon-sprite. The Poles have many stories of beings that take service without wages, on condition of no fault being found, and make off instantly upon the terms being broken.
20, III, 496 a. The last verses of 'Tsanno d'Oymé,' Daymard, Vieux Chants pop. recueillis en Quercy, p. 70, are after the fashion of this ballad.
'Tsano d'Oymé, atal fuessés négado!'
'Lou fil del rey, et bous né fuessés l'aygo!'
'Tsano d'Oymé, atal fuessés brullado!'
'Lou fil del rey, et bous fuessés las clappos!'