British & Other Versions: Child No. 2, "The Elfin Knight" [Roud 12]
All Versions Categorized by Interstanzic Refrains
A. "The Elphin Knight" or "Wind Hath Blown My Plaid Away" Child A-E (Scottish) c. 1670 (Interstanzic Refrain Type A)
a. '"The Wind hath blown my Plaid away, or, A Discourse betwixt a young [Wo]man and the Elphin Knight," a broadside in blackletter in the Pepysian library, bound up at the end of a copy of Blind Harry's 'Wallace,' Edin. 1673. Child A.
b. "Elphin Knight," dated c. 1820, fragments sung by Jean Gall of Strichen, as remembered by her daughter Bell Robertson. From Greig-Duncan II, No. 329 G, p. 485, notes, p. 580, see also Kloss. This is probably from Isobel Stephen, Jean's mother who was a folk singer born in the 1700s.
c. "The Wind Hath Blown My Plaid Awa" Child B, from ESPB volume 1, as taken from "A Collection of Curious Old Ballads, etc.," p. 3, Edinburgh; David Webster, 1824. "Partly from an old copy in black letter, and partly from the recitation of an old lady."
d. "The Elfin Knight" Child E, Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 492 dated c. 1825. From ESPB, Volume 1, 1882, by F.J. Child.
e. "The Deil's Courting." From the recitation of John McWhinnie, collier, Newtown Green, Ayrshire, Scotland, 1825. From Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 103. Reprinted in Child's ESPB, Volume 1, 1882; Child I.
f. "The Elfin Knight" Child C from the recitation of M. Kinnear, a native of Mearnsshire, 23 Aug., 1826; Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 145.
g. "The Fairy Knight." No informant named, from N. Scotland, c.1828. From Peter Buchan, Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, p.296. Child 2D.
h. "There was a Knight." Dated 1843 as communicated by William Walker, of Aberdeenshire, as sung, 1893, by John Walker, Portlethen; learned by him from his father, above fifty years before.
i. "The Elfin Knight" sung by Bell Robertson of New Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, c. 1907 from Greig, Folksong of the North-East, Text A. (No. 100); learned c.1855 from a blacksmith.
j. "Laird o' Elfin" c. 1875, sung by Alexander Robb, School College, New Deer, (Aberdenshire) Scotland. Learned from William Booth of Rathen about c.1875. From James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/8/1/B, p. 11511, dated c. 1930; compare to Robb's version in Greig-Duncan dated c. 1907.
k. "Blow, ye winds, blow" from 1899 'Family Songbook compiled by Rosa Allen,' p. 14, from long-standing family tradition, Medfield, Massachusetts; Philips Barry, JAF XVIII (1905) pp. 212; 49-50 and E.H. Linscott, Folksongs of Old New England, 1939, p.170-1.
l. "The Elfin Knight," sung by Bell Duncan of Insch, Aberdeenshire about 1930. Generic title from Carpenter (The Elfin Knight), from James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/10/124, Cylinder 123, 14:59. Collected from Bell Duncan, eighty-two-year-old, who lived in a shepherd's cottage at Lambhill.
m. "The Cambric Shirt." As sung by Mrs. Belle Richard's of Colebrook, New Hampshire. M. Olney, Collector; November 20, 1941. Flanders, Ancient Ballads; 1966.
n. [Plant me an Acre of Corn] As sung by Maynard Reynolds of Pittsburg, New Hampshire. He does not recall where he learned it. Mr. Reynolds was born in Maine. M. Olney, Collector; April 21, 1942 from Flanders, Ancient Ballads; 1966.
o. "Elfin Knight," sung by Mrs. Martha Reid ("Peasie") of Birnam, Perthshire, 1955 from Collinson and Henderson. School of Scottish Studies- Collinson, Henderson; also Bronson IV appendix. The first refrain is "And it's ho, ho ho, the wind'll blow" Additional stanza Shepheard 1967.
p. "The Elfin Knight," fragment from Bella Stewart Higgins of Blairgowrie and her brother Andrew (Andra) Stewart in 1956, Andra sings on the recording. Recorded twice by Hamish Henderson. School of Scottish Studies; Original Tape ID - SA1956.112.
q. "Cambrick Shirt" collected in 1959 from George Decker of Rocky Harbour, NL, by Kenneth Peacock and published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 1, p.6.
r. "Camric Sark." Sung by Mrs. Margaret Tait, learned from her mother, Mrs. Jemima Robertson, of the Westing, Unst. Recorded by Alan Bruford in 1960. From School of Scottish Studies; Original Track ID - SA1960.60.B3.
s. "The Devil and the Maid." As sung by Ronnie McDonald and his father John McDonald at Marshall's field, Alyth, Perthshire in August 1965. Recorded by Peter Shepheard; later Ewan MacColl.
t. "The Cambric Shirt" sung by Charlotte Decker of Parson's Pond, Great Northern Penninsula, August, 1966. From tape Memorial University Folklore Archive
u. "The Elf Knight." Sung by Alexander Reid ('Shells') of Pitlochry, Perthshire, collected by Linda Headlee on 14th September, 1975; Tocher XX (1975) pp.140-1.
B. Herb refrains, "Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme." c. 1777 (Interstanzic Refrain Type B)
a. "Lord John." Mary Barr of Lesmahago learned this about 1777 (she was 75 in 1827). The title is obviously a local title and makes little sense. From George R. Kinloch, the author of The Ballad Book and of Ancient Scottish Ballads, published in 1827. Child 2, Version F.
b. "The humours of love," London broadside, no imprint, c.1780; 1 sheet: ill.; 1/40. Cambridge University Library Madden ballads, vol. 2, A slip-song.
c. "The Cambrick Shirt," Gammer Gurton's Garland, p. 3, c. 1783 by Joseph Ritson, 1752-1803; London, Child 2G.
d. "Camric Sark," from Ignotus in Scots Magazine, Vol. 69, 1807. The Scots Magazine, Volume 69, dated 1807.
e. "The Deil's Courtship," c. 1825, from Motherwell's MS., p. 92; F.J. Child's ESPB, Volume 1, 1882, Child H.
f. "Cambric shirt" John Lonsdale c. 1827, from the London magazine, The Athenaeum, 1867, page 262.
g. "Love Letter and Answer," 1831 broadside "Love-letter & Answer: And Father, Jerry & I." Sold wholesale and retail, by L. Deming, no. 1, south side Faneuil Hall, Boston., 1831. Also from British Ballad From Maine; Barry, Eckstorm and Smythe 1929.
h. "True Lover Of Mine," sung by Biddy Hickey of Limerick c.1837; from Patrick Weston Joyce, Old Irish Folk Music And Songs, 1909, No. 117, pp. 59-60, also Bronson I, 2.27, p. 21.
i. "Cambridge Shat (Cambric Shirt)." As sung by Sam. Self of Hethersett. (Tune—" Robin Cook's wife.") "taken down nearly half a century ago" (c. 1840). From: The East Anglian: Or, Notes and Queries on Subjects Connected with ..., (p. 211-213) Volume 2, 1888.
j. "Love's Impossibility," from "Songs for the Million," Boston, 1844, From Traditional Ballads in New England II by Phillips Barry; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 18, No. 70 (Jul.- Sep., 1905), pp. 191-214.
k. "Whittingham Fair." From Thomas Hepple's MS c.1855, then arranged and published by J. C. Bruce and J. Stokoe, "Northumbrian Minstrelsy," 1882, pp.79-80. Bronson 2.22. Child reports in Additions and Corrections: 17, II, 495 b.
l. "Scarborough Fair," heard about 1860 by Mr. Samuel Stather from Beverly (see Leeds Mercury, 25.8.1883, Local Notes and Queries CCXLI, available at BNCN, Gale DocNr. BC3201777770) with the text of complete version he had heard "some twenty years ago, an old man named Sam Hayes singing this ballad in Whitby streets." From Frank Kidson's "Traditional Tunes," 1891, pp.43; 172. Bronson's 2.1.
m. "The Labors of True Lovers," dated 1860, from North Pennsylvania Minstrelsy As Sung in the Backwood Settlements, Hunting Cabins and Lumber Camps in Northern Pennsylvania, 1840-1910; Compiled by Henry W. Shoemaker; 1919, page 114. The title could be "Strawberry Lane."
n. "I Want You to Make Me a Cambric Shirt" dated 1865 as sung by Mrs. John Williams (nee Violet Selena Hawkins) Iowa City, Iowa, January 1 and February 5, 1922 in 1865-70, in Penn Township, Johnson County, Iowa; recorded by Mrs. Flora Brennan. Communicated by Prof. Charles A. Williams.
o. "Cambrick Shirt," Robert Hunt received this text by Feb. 1867 from a "lady from Cornwall" who herself had heard it "when a child" from an "old woman of St. Ives. From the London magazine Athenaeum. On February 9, 1867 p. 198.
p. "The Elfin Knight" from Notes and Queries, 4th Series, III, 605, 1869 communicated by W.F., (Findlay) Glasgow, from a manuscript collection. Child M from Additions and Corrections.
q. ["Cambric Shirt"]- from Robert Nicol, Ratch Hill, Kintore, Aberdeenshire, who knew this fifty-one years ago- about c. 1869; from James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/3/J, p. 06898. Cf. Alexander Stephens' version.
r. "The Elfin Knight" generic title from Alexander Stephens of Turfhill, New Deer, Strichen, learned from Nicol fifty-one years ago (c. 1869) From James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/11/311, Disc Side 305, 04:42. Nicol's version, which is the source, is different but similar.
s. "The Cambric Shirt," dated 1870 sung by Mrs. G. A. Griffin; Newberry, Fla. June, 1939; Collected by Alan Lomax. "Learned it when a little girl and sang it more times than the hairs o' my head.
t. "Cameric Sark," sung by Alexander Brown of Anchor Cottage, Land street, Rothes (Moray) Scotland. Heard about sixty years ago. My title. From James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/3/J, p. 06902.
u. "The Cambric Shirt." Dated c. 1874 as recorded from the singing of Horatio Luce of South Pamfret, Vermont, as learned from his father, Edwin A. Luce (b. 1839), whose years were spent partially in Barnard, partially in Bridgewater, Vermont. Printed in A Garland of Green Mountain Song, 58. H. H. F., Collector; October 12, 1931. Flanders F.
v. "Cambric Shirt." Recorded about 1875, by S. A. F., Providence, R. I., from the singing of an aged man, born in the year 1800. From: Traditional Ballads in New England II by Phillips Barry; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 18, No. 70 (Jul. - Sep., 1905), pp. 191-214.
w. "Camerin Sark" (The Elfin Knight)- sung by Peter Chritie of 21 Shorehead, Stonehave, Scotland from his mother Margaret Leiper of Pinnon who was 93 when she died in 1919. My title, my date (probably much earlier. From James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/8/1/C, pp. 11583-11584.
x. "Every Rose Blooms," sung by Mrs. Watson Gray, Corner house East st. Fochabers, Morayshire Scotland heard over 50 years ago from old man William Stuart of Glenlivet. My title. From the James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/2/2/E, p. 04818. Has second set of tasks only.
y. "True Love of Mine," c. 1880, sung by Mrs. Mary Stewart Robertson of New Deer, learned from Christina Stewart Robertson 50 years ago. (VWML Song Index SN24452) Carpenter Collection 04816.
z. "Scarbro Fair," No informant named from Yorkshire? dated 1884. From ESPB's Additions and Corrections, Volume 2. Sent to Child by Mr Frank Kidson, Leeds, 1884; from tradition, 2nd version.
aa. "The Cambric Shirt." From Leroy Kinkade, University of Missouri, 1922; as learned from his-mother, who in turn learned it from her mother in Harrison county about 1886.
From Ballads and Songs collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society; Belden, 1940.
bb. "If ever you go to Carmarthenshire." No informant named, my title, Wales from Notes and Queries - Page 112, 1888.
cc. "The Lover's Tasks," composite, from Camelford c. 1890 Sabine Baring-Gould Manuscript Collection (SBG/5/49) Stanzas 6-14 were from Philip Symons of Jascobstowe, 1889 and another informant. These verses are Child 2, the other verses 1-4 and 15 are from "S. Penhallich, Cornwall."
dd. "Cambric Shirt." My title, from Samson, taken from the novel, Dr. LeBaron and His Daughters: A Story of the Old Colony by Jane Goodwin Austin - 1890 p. 314.
ee."The Tasks." Sung by John Hext, Post Bridge, Devon in October 1890. Baring-Gould MSS., CXXVIII(I); Bronson 33; (B) coinciding with (A) published text (Songs of the west) except in the concluding stanzas.
ff. "The Lover's Tasks," from Joseph Dyer, Mawgan-in-Pyder, Cornwall, 1891. MS title. From Sabine Baring-Gould Manuscript Collection (SBG/5/49). Bronson 14. Songs of the West, No. 48 The Lover's Tasks.
gg. "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.
hh. "Scarborough Fair" sung by Mr. Allan Wardill a railwayman of Goathland, a village in the heart of the North York Moors. Fragment from: Frank Kidson's Traditional Tunes, 1891, p. 172.
ii. ["Cambric Shirt"]. Contributed by Mrs. Sarah Bridge Farmer, as learned from an elderly lady born in Beverly, Mass. From: American Versions of the Ballad of the Elfin Knight from The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 7, No. 26 (Jul. - Sep., 1894), pp. 228-232
jj. "As I Walked Out in Yonder Dell," contributed by Miss Gertrude Decrow, of Boston, 1894. From: American Versions of the Ballad of the Elfin Knight in The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 7, No. 26 (Jul. - Sep., 1894), pp. 228-232.
kk. "The Cambric Shirt," dated 1896 as sung by Wiley Hembree; Farmington, Arkansas, 1941. From Ozark Folksongs; Randolph, A, 1946.
ll. ["As You Go Up To Yonders Town".] Contributed by Mrs. E. M. Backus, as obtained from recitation in Columbia County, Ga. [From Early American Ballads II by William Wells Newell in The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 13, No. 49 (Apr. - Jun., 1900), pp. 105-122.
mm. ["Cambric Shirt."] Dated 1901, from Mrs. E. A. McKay, January, 1921; from her husband, who learned it some twenty years earlier from a wandering hired man at his father's farm in Knox County. From Ballads and Songs collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society; Belden B, 1940.
nn. "The Six Questions." Sung by O. F. A. Conner; Barry MSS., I, vn. E; also transcribed in IV, No. 123. Bronson 25, Edmund's date.
oo. "Cambric Shirt." Contributed March, 1904, by I. L. M., Vineland, N . J., formerly of Lynn, Mass. Version C; from Traditional Ballads in New England II by Phillips Barry; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 18, No. 70 (Jul. - Sep., 1905), pp. 191-214.
pp. "The Lover's Tasks," sent by Mr. Gilbert to Cecil Sharp, "June 2, 1904; from his collection", Karpeles, Sharp Collection I, No. 1 C, p. 3. Sharp Ms.: CJS2/9/306 & CJS2/10/219 at the Full English Digital Archive; also Bronson I, No. 2.16, p. 17.
qq. "Cambric Shirt," Written down by Mrs. Humphrys of Ingrave, Essex on April 29, 1904. She is over 70 years old and learned the song "from her father." Vaughan Williams MSS., II, p. 110. From Bronson IV 2.42.1, p.441, Palmer 1999, No. 18, pp. 31-2, notes, p. 188.
rr. "Love's Impossibility." From: Two Traditional Songs by Mrs. R. F. Herrick; Eureka, California. The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 19, No. 73 (Apr. - Jun., 1906), pp. 130-132.
ss. "The Sea Side," sung by Bridget Geary of Waterford in Aug. 1906. From- Songs from County Waterford, Ireland by Lucy E. Broadwood, Cecil J. Sharp, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frank Kidson, A. G.Gilchrist; Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. 3, No. 10 (1907), pp. 3-38.
tt. "The Lover's Tasks," sung by Bessie Huxtable of Minehead, Somerset in January, 1906. From Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/9/826).
uu. "The Lover's Tasks." Words and air from Mr. William Huxtable, Taunton, Somerset by 1906. Cecil Sharp & Charles R. Marson's "Folk Songs From Somerset, III" titled "The Lover's Tasks", No. LXIV, pp. 26-7, notes, p. 75; also Bronson I, 2.36, p. 24.
vv. "Newcastle Hill" as sung by Mrs. Marian Russell, Upwey, Dorset, Jan./Feb. 1907, collected by H. E. D. Hammond, HAM/4/31/16, p. 4 & 5, at The Full English.
ww. "The Parsley Vine," from Carter Patterson in 1908 Jeffersontown, KY; from John Jacob Niles; (Niles No. 2 B) Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles, Bramhall House, Bk (1961).
xx. "The Shirt of Lace," sung by Uncle Brother Patterson; Jeffersontown, KY; 1908; (Niles No. 2 C); From Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles, Bramhall House, Bk (1961), p 17.
yy. "Every Rose Is Bonny In Time" collected by Maud Houston (d. 1905) in Coleraine, Ulster, published in Cox 1910, p. 17-8, Journal Of The Irish Folk Song Society.
zz. "Scarborough Fair" sung by Robert Beadle of Stoupe Brow, Yorkshire in 1911. Collected by Clive Carey. From Clive Carey Manuscript Collection (CC/1/370) also 1915 Clive Carey Ten English Folk-Songs (p. 20-22).
aaa. "Scarborough Fair" a tune with three verses in 1913 from Richard Hutton, aged 65, Goathland, Yorkshire (Karpeles, Sharp Collection I, No 1B, p. 2; Sharp Ms.: CJS2/10/2868 at the Full English Digital Archive; also Bronson I, 2.21.
bbb. "The Cambric Shirt," contributed by Miss Adina De Zavala, San Antonio, Tex. It came from Ireland (Dublin or thereabout). From Various Ballads by G. L. Kittredge; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 26, No. 100 (Apr. - Jun., 1913), pp. 174-182.
ccc. ["Strawberry Lane"]. Communicated in 1914 by Mr. E. Russell Davis, as remembered by his mother and himself from the singing of his grandfather, Mr. William Henry Banks (born 1834), a vessel-owner of Maine. from Ballads and Songs
by G. L. Kittredge; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 30, No. 117 (Jul. - Sep., 1917), pp. 283-369.
ddd. "The Cambric Shirt," Collected by Miss Corita Sloane, of Merryfield, Va. Learned from an old Negro woman in Fairfax county, January 10, 1915, Davis CC. From More Traditional Ballads of Virginia- Davis 1960.
eee. "Every Grove is Merry in Time," no informant named, Pound's title from her Nebraska and Central West Folk Songs, a Syllabus printed in 1915.
fff. "The Lover's Tasks." Sung by Francis Carter Proctor, Beattyville, Ky., September 8, 1917. Collected by Sharp. From Sharp MSS 3996; Bronson No. 37.
ggg. [A True Love of Mine] The Lover's Tasks- Mrs Cis Jones at Manchester, Clay County, Kentucky 1917; from EFSSA, No. 1; Sharp A.
hhh. [True Lover of Mine]- Sung by Mrs. POLLY MITCHELL at Burnsville, N.C., Sept. 22, 1918, From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians; 1932 edition Sharp and Karpeles, Sharp B.
iii. "Cambric Shirt." My title, text was recorded by Mrs. Stella Byrd Brooks, Breathitt County, in 1961. She had moved at an early age from Virginia and had learned this and other songs from her parents in about 1920.. From Robert's In the Pines, 1978.
jjj. "A True Lover of Mine." From Barbeau, Lismer, and Bourinot, 1947, p. 33. Also in Fowke and Johnston, 1954, pp. 138-39. From Hazleton, British Columbia, 1920.
kkk. "The Cambric Shirt." Sung by Henry Pritchard, Weeksville, NC, 1924. From Chappell's book, Folk-Songs of the Roanoke and Abermarle; 1939.
lll. "You Shall Be a True Lover of Mine." sent in August 1925, by Justin Decoster, Buckfield, who wrote, "It is a very old song." From British Ballad from Maine- Barry, Eckstorm, Smythe 1929; Barry B.
mmm. ["Cambric Shirt"] The Elfin Knight - from John Ross, farmer of Lone Vine Farm, Balintore, Scotland. Heard at a wedding Parish of Nig, west of Balitore. Fragment from James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/8/1/L, pp. 12067-12068. No date but older.
nnn. "King Ethelred and Cheeld-Vean," from Jim Thomas, MS , 14 Union Street, Camborne, Cornwall, England by c. 1930. From James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/2/2/E, p. 04807; also Atkinson 1998, p. 436, see also p. 438, Kloss.
ooo. "Every rose grows" sung by Mrs Annie Morrison from The Hill, Evanston, Scotland (p.04608/p.05478), 1931 with music. Fragment from James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/8/1/K, p. 12026.
ppp. "Where Are You Going? I'm Going to Lynn." From Miss Amy Perkins, as recalled from the singing of Emery R. Fisher, Rutland, Vermont, 1931. From Flander's Ancient Ballads; 1966; also in The New Green Mountain Songster p. 8.
qqq. "Scarborough Fair." This folk song was sent to the Vermont Commission on Country Life by Miss Sylvia Bliss, Plainfield, Vermont, contributed by Ola Leonard Gray (Mrs. Ian W. Gray), East Calais, Vermont. Sung by Mrs. Gray, her mother, and her grandmother. Published in Vermont Folk-Songs & Ballads, 1931. H. H. F., collector; 1931 also from Flander's Ancient Ballads; 1966.
rrr. "True Lover of Mine" sung by George McDonald, from The Hill, Evanton, near Inverness, Scotland, 1931. Three stanzas (two corrupt) scribbled on a sheet of paper from Carpenter MSS Reel 4, Box 2, Packet II.
sss. ["Saver A Rose"] No local title, collected by Miss Alfreda M. Peel, of Salem, Va. Sung by Mrs. William Horton, of Roanoke Va. Roanoke County. Miss Peel sent in two texts of this ballad taken from Mrs. Horton's singing with the second text which was sent March 31, 1931. From More Traditional Ballads of Virginia- Davis 1960.
ttt. "Rose Mary in Time." This fragment was recalled by Dr. D. S. Gage of Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, 1931. Folk Songs from the Southern Highlands Collected & Edited By Mellinger Edward Henry, 1938.
uuu. ["An Acre of Land"] no local title. Collected by Miss Alfreda M. Peel, of Salem, Va. Sung by Minter Grubb, of Back Creek, Va. Roanoke County. Miss Peel collected this ballad first in 1932. From More Traditional Ballads of Virginia- Davis 1960.
vvv. "Strawberry Lane." From Elmore Vincent, Lumberjack Songs p. 19, 1932 also Bronson No. 35.
www. ["I'm Going to Lynn."] Sent by Mrs. Ella Doten of North Calais, Vermont, in the fragmentary form she can remember. She knows its tune but cannot sing. H. H. F., Collector August 24, 1933. Flanders, Ancient Ballads; 1966.
xxx. "The Cambric Shirt," sung by Mrs. Alice Sicily in North, Calais, Vermont. H. H. F., Collector; July 29, 1933. Flanders E, Ancient Ballads; 1966.
yyy. "The Cambric Shirt." As sung by Myra Daniels of East Calais, Vermont. Learned from her mother and father. IH. H. F., Collector; October 8, 1934. Flanders G, Ancient Ballads; 1966.
zzz. "A True Lover of Mine." This version was sung by Mr Otis Evilsizer, Alger, 1935. From: Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan by Emelyn Elizabeth Gardner and Geraldine Jencks Chickering, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press London, 1939.
aaaa. "Rose de Marian Time." Recorded by Professor Richard Chase of the Institute of Folk Music at Chapel Hill in 1936 from the singing of Mrs. Fannie Norton of Norton, N. C. Brown Collection of NC Folklore- Version B.
bbbb. "The Two Lovers." Contributed by Mrs. Bora Ward, of Princeton, Indiana. Gibson County. January 14, 1936. Brewster A: from Ballads and Songs of Indiana; 1940.
cccc. ["Cambric Shirt."] Contributed by Mrs. Thomas M. Bryant, of Evansville, Indiana. Vanderburg County. January 2, 1936. Brewster B: Ballads and Songs of Indiana; 1940
dddd. ["Cambric Shirt."] Communicated by Mrs. Mary J. Shriver, of East St. Louis, Illinois. January 24, 1936. My title. From Brewster: Ballads and Songs of Indiana; 1940.
eeee. "The Cambric Shirt," taken from Cordia Elizabeth (King) Moser in 1937 and sung by Artus Moser 1974. From: North Carolina Folk Songs and Ballads Sung by Artus Moser, Folkways 1974.
ffff. "The Cambric Shirt." Sent in 1937 by Professor W. Amos Abrams, formerly of the Appalachian State Teachers College, Boone, Watauga county, as secured from Mary Bost, of Statesville, Iredell county, Brown Collection of NC Folklore, Brown A.
gggg. "Scarborough Fair," wrong title, from Mrs. Florence Underhill, with her two sisters, the Misses Young in Bellows Falls, Vermont, who put together this song as remembered from the singing of their father, Edward O. Young (uncle of the late Dr. Ellis of Brookfield). H. H. F., Collector November 2, 1938. Flanders B, Ancient Ballads; 1966.
hhhh. "Go and Make Me a Cambric Shirt." Sung by Pearl Jacobs Borusky and Maud Jacobs, September 11, 1938. From: Kentucky Folksong in Northern Wisconsin by Asher E. Treat; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 52, No. 203 (Jan. - Mar., 1939), pp. 1-51.
iiii. "An Impossibility." From George Vinton Graham performing Anglo-American songs and accompanying himself on the guitar on December 3, 1938, as collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell in San Jose, California. L.C.Archive of American Folksong, Rec. 3812 A1.
jjjj. "Rosemary and Thyme," sung by Miss Annie Byers of Perryville, Ohio; from Mary O. Eddy, 1939, "Ballads and Songs from Ohio"; Bronson 39.
kkkk. "The Cambric Shirt." Herbert J. Ward, of Millet's Falls, Massachusetts, gave the following fragment to his friend Mr. Taggart of Greenfield (formerly of Millet's Falls). H. H. F., Collector; Fall, 1939. Flanders O, Ancient Ballads; 1966.
llll. ["Rose Mary in Time."] From Miss Mary Ellen Lux, Canton, Ohio. Eddy, Ballads and Songs from Ohio, 1939.
mmmm. "Cambric Shirt." Text from Mrs. May Kennedy McCord, Springfield, Mo., Nov. 14, 1940; she had it from Mrs. Ethel Estes Sure, Fayetteville, Ark. From Ozark Folksongs; Randolph B, 1946.
nnnn. "Petticoat Lane," dated c. 1942, sung by George Edwards 1877-1949 of Hasbrouck, NY. From Folk Songs of the Catskills - Page 164, by Norman Cazden, Herbert Haufrecht, Norman Studer- 1982.
oooo. "Are You Going to the Fair? As spoken by Miss Elizabeth Genders of Newport, Rhode Island. This ballad was sung to her as a child by members of her family, who were early Rhode Island, settlers. M. Olney, Collector; October 23, 1945. Flanders I, Ancient Ballads; 1966.
pppp. "Scarborough Fair"by Mark Anderson, 1947 via MacColl, text/melody are Martin Carthy's Version 1965, Paul Simon's 1966. This is popular version Paul Simon learned from Martin Carthy. Cathy's version came from MacColl who attributes it to Mark Anderson, a retired lead-miner, at Middleton-in-Teasdale, Yorkshire, 1947.
qqqq. "The Cambric Shirt," sung by Mrs. Susie Evans Daley of Tulsa before 1950. [From Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest, Moores; 1964.
rrrr. "The Cambric Shirt," as sung by Mrs. Mary Ann McFarland of Tulsa. Mrs. McFarland, visiting in the home of her friend Mrs. Daley about 1950. From Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest, Moores; 1964.
ssss. "Rosemary," Mrs. Rachel Henry of Spring Valley, Arkansas March 9, 1951 (Learned from a man she knew as a child, called "Little Sam" Johnson, near Goshen, Arkansas.) From Ozark Folksong Collection- Reel 97, Item 2. Collected by Irene Carlisle.
tttt. "Rosemary One Time." Sung by Rod Drake, Silsbee, Texas, 1952. From Texas Folk Songs; Owens, second edition.
uuuu. "Now As You Are Goin' Down Strawberry Lane." (Elfin Knight) Sung by Thomas Moran, Mohill, County Leitrim; December, 1954. Sung by Thomas Moran, Mohill. December, 1954. Recorded and transcribed by Seamus Ennis. From: Some 'English' Ballads and Folk Songs Recorded in Ireland 1952-1954; by Lady Margaret; Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, Vol. 8, No. 1 (1956), pp. 16-28.
vvvv. "Rosemary and Thyme." As sung by Mrs. Allie Long Parker, Eureka Springs, Arkansas on April 14, 1958. Cat. #0060 (MFH #535) Max Hunter Collection.
wwww. "Rosemary Lane" sung by Liz Jeffries of Kilmore Quay, Wexford as recorded by Mary and Nigel Hudleston of Yorkshire at Kilmore, Co. Wexford, in 1959.
xxxx. "The Cambric Shirt." Variant B from Kenneth Peacock's Songs of the Newfoundland Outports. This variant was collected in 1959 from Mrs. Clara Stevens of Bellburns, NL, by Kenneth Peacock and published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 1, p. 7-8.
yyyy. "Cambric Shirt, Questions Three asked by two doubting lovers" sung by Margaret Winters with guitar. From the Folkways Recording (FA 2358) of American Song Festival, 1960 organized by Jean Thomas.
zzzz. "Impossibilities." Sung by Mrs. Emma Medlin; Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr. Pangburn, AR 9/10/60. From Wolf Collection on-line.
aaaaa. "[On Yonder Hill]" This fragment of The Cambric Shirt was sung by Mrs. Belle Kettner of Park Hill. My title, single stanza with music. From Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest, Moores; 1964.
bbbbb. "Rosemary and Thyme" a fragment, was sung by Mrs. Martha Ellen Allen of Moore. The evening she was approached about the song, she could think of only the first refrain. Single stanza with music. From Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest, Moores; 1964.
ccccc. "Every Rose Grows Merry in Time." From Folk Legacy: Ballads and songs of the Upper Hudson Valley. As sung by Sara Cleveland in June 1965 at Brant Lake, New York. Collected by Sandy Paton.
ddddd. "Rosemary Fair," sung by Frank Harte, 1967. From the album: Dublin Street Songs / Through Dublin City by Frank Harte, released: 1967. This is probably an arrangement or cover song of Rosemary Lane as sung by Liz Jefferies of Kilmore, Co. Wexford, in 1959.
C. Nonsense or Syllable Refrains from North America; 1828 (Interstanzic Refrain Type C)
a. ["Now You Are A-Going To Cape Ann"], 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. Child J.
b. ["Holland Shirt."] Dated 1873, as remembered, by Mrs. Lily Delorme of Caddyville, New York, Mrs. Delorme says, 'This is a jolly little song I used to hear my father and mother sing. It was like this: I don't recall the name of it." Flanders E.
c. "Redio-Tedio" Sung by Mrs. Susie Carr Young, Brewer, Maine; Learned from Sybil Emery in 1882. Melody recorded by George Herzog, see Barry, Eckstorm and Smyth, 1929, pp. 3-4 and also The Singing Tradition of Child's Popular Ballads, Bronson.
d. "The Cambric Shirt." Secured by Miss Hamilton in 1910 from Fred Wilkinson who got it from a MS collection made by his grandmother, Eliza Robbins, of Brownington, VT. H. M. Belden, "Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society," 1940-- Flanders J.
e. "The Cambric Shirt." Two stanzas only, contributed in 1923, by Mildred Peterson of Bladen county. From Brown Collection of NC Folklore, Version C, a fragment.
f. "As I Walked Out in Yonder Dell." From the Josiah Combs Collection "from the singing of William Bush, Index, West Virginia" (no date given- circa 1924) "collected" for Combs by Carey Woofter.
g. "Oh Where Are You Going? I'm Going To Lynn." Sung by Moses Ayers, Calhoun County 1924. Printed in his 1975 book, Folk Songs from the West Virginia Hills, Gainer's version (according to Edmunds- 1985) was first collected in 1924 when he was a student at the University of West Virginia.
h. "The Cambric Shirt." Recorded by Mrs. Francis Bailey from the singing of Miss Lillian Mason (later Mrs. Frederick B. Morton) Flanders I, Ancient Ballads; 1966.
i. "The Cambric Shirt." Sung by Mrs. J. C. Marshall, Quanah, Texas. Published 1932. From Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank), 1888-1964. Tone the Bell Easy. Dallas, Texas. Mrs. Marshall was born in Arkansas and learned the ballads there that she brought to Texas. Bronson No. 5.
j. "The Cambric Shirt." As sent by Paul Lorette, Manchester, Vermont, and Published, in the Springfield, Mass., Republican November 11, 1932. Flanders, Ancient Ballads; 1966.
k. "The Cambric Shirt." Recorded, in Wallingford, Vermont, as sung by Charles Wade. H. H. F., Collector; October, 1934
Flanders M, Ancient Ballads; 1966.
l. ["If You Go Up To Town Tonight."] Collected by Dr. Claude Lomax, of Dale, Indiana. Sung by Mrs. Earl Underhill, of Doolittle Mills, Indiana. Perry County. January 24, 1936. My title, Brewster C: Ballads and Songs of Indiana; 1940.
m. "Mother, Make Me a Cambric Shirt." Contributed by Mrs. John W. Wright, of Aurora, Indiana, Dearborn County. January 17, 1936. Brewster D: Ballads and Songs of Indiana; 1940.
n. "O, Say Do You Know The Way To Selin?" Recorded by Peggy Seeger. Sung originally by "Aunt Fannie" Parker, Carthage, Maine. Ring, 1937 pp. 12-13.
o. "The Cambric Shirt," sung by Morris Wilson 1939. From: Body, Boots, & Britches: Folktales, Ballads, and Speech from Country New York by Harold William Thompson. 1940; Thompson says it was, "Sung many years ago at a lumber camp near Lake George."
p. "The Cambric Shirt," sung by Jennie Gray from Eddington, ME. Collected by Evelyn Huckins; 1961.
q. "Flim-A-Lim-A-Lee," sung by Lawrence Older, 1963 (Guitar w/vocal) From Adirondack Songs Ballads and Fiddle Tunes - Lawrence Older, 1963; Recorded Sandy Paton.
r. "Are Any of You Going to the Calhoun Fair?" no informant named, sung by Gainer c. 1970. From West Virginia Regional History on-line. Patrick Gainer started recording the Child ballads (1-13) probably in the early 1970s.
D. "Sing Ivy" or "My father left me an acre of land," Roud 21093; (Interstanzic Refrain Type D)
a. "Sing Ivy," sung Henry Hills Shepperton, Surrey in 1899, learned when he was a boy (About 1845) from [Songs from the Collection of W. P. Merrick] by W. P. Merrick, Lucy Broadwood, Frank Kidson, J. A. Fuller Maitland; Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. 1, No. 3, Songs from the Collection of W. P.Merrick (1901), pp. 66-138.
b. "My Father Left Me Three Acres of Land." Child's Version K was taken from Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes of England, 6th ed., p. 109, No 171. First published in 5th edition, 1853.
c. "My Father Gave Me An Acre of Land." From Notes and Queries, 1st S., VII, 8. Notes and queries: Volume 7 - Page 8; 1853. The Elfin Knight; Child, Version L; Signed D. (Draufield)
d. "A Bunch of Green Holly and Ivy," sung by Daniel Fisher of Weston Newbury, Berkshire, about 1880 when he was a little lad. From: James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/3/J, pp. 06907-06908, the last stanzas are confused.
e. "A Yacre of Land," sung by Mr. Greenwood, The Duncombe Arms, Westerdale, Yorkshire, 13 July 1904. From Imogen Holst and Ursula Vaughan Williams "Sixteen Folk-Songs from the Manuscript Collection of Ralph Vaughan Williams." With music, p. 1, 1961, Oxford University Press, London.
f. "An Acre of Land." sung by Frank Bailey of Coombe Bisset, Wiltshire in 1904. From: Songs Collected from Wiltshire by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Lucy E. Broadwood, Frank Kidson, Cecil J. Sharp; Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. 2, No. 8 (1906), pp. 210-213.
g. "Sing Ivy," sung by William Mason of Easton by Winchester, Hampshire in November, 1906. From JFSS, 1907 p.274-275. Noted by H. Balfour Gardiner.
h. "Sing Ivy,' probably sung in Yorkshire. No informant, date but before 1906, from Moffat and Kidson,"Children's Songs of Long ago" p. 48. Tune also in JFSS, II (1906), p. 213. Bronson 54.
i. "Sing Holly, Sing Ivy." Sung by Mrs. Goodyear of Axford, Basingstoke, Hampshire, 1907. Fragment from George Gardiner Manuscript Collection (GG/1/12/761). Gardiner MSS Notebook XI p.85.
j. "Sing Ivy," sung by William Hill of Catherington Hampshire on 19 August, 1908. Collector Gardiner, from George Gardiner Manuscript Collection (GG/1/19/1171)
k. "A Bunch of Green Holly and Ivy." Sung by Rev. c. F. Cholmondely, at Harvest suppers in Adderbury, Oxfordshire, collected by Janet Blunt; 1917. From: Janet Blunt Manuscript Collection (JHB/6/9); also Foxworthy, Forty Long Miles, n.d.
l. "Holly and Ivy." Sung by Mrs. Hedges of Purton, Wiltshire. Collector Alfred Williams, no date published in 1923. From: Williams, Folk Songs of the Upper Thames (1923) pp.221-222, WSRO: 2598/36 Packet 4 - Wiltshire: Williams, A: MS collection No Wt 479.
m. "Sing holly, sing ivy," MS from George Keen, of High Coggs, Oxfordshire; from Alfred Williams Collection- my date. From: WSRO: 2598/36 Packet 2 - Oxfordshire: Williams, A: MS collection No Ox 273 (also No Mi 703). There are two versions virtually identical with 9 stanzas and 8 stanzas, probably both are from George Keen, only "winnowed" is spelt differently.
n. "Green Holly and Ivy,"- sung about 1930 by Edward Newitt of Oxfordshire, England. From: James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/2/2/E, p. 04819.
o. "Sing Holly and Ivy," sung by Jim Cox of Hamptonfields, Minchenhampton about 1930. From; James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/3/J, p. 06906.
p. "Green Holly An' Ivy," sung by W. Belcher of Oxfordshire about 1930. From James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/3/K, p. 06910.
q. "My Father Gave Me an Acre of Ground," sung by Simeon B. Coffee; Hamblen Co. TN 1934; Niles A. From Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles, Bramhall House, Bk (1961), p 14-15. This is the first version (in the US) with the rare refrain: "Sing ivy, sing ivory." and is probably not authentic.
r. "Sing Ivy," sung by Gurtrude J. Osmond of Wokingham, Berkshire on 22 Sep 1950, collected by Francis Collinson. Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection (COL/3/29B).
s. "An Acre of Land." Peter Kennedy recorded "An Acre of Land" a version of Child 2, The Elfin Knight, from Bob and Ron Copper, Sussex in 1955. It's been recorded at least twice by the Copper's in 1952 and again in 1971 as "Heigh Ho Sing Ivy."
t. "Sing Ivy," sung by Charlie Potter of Horsham, West Sussex, collected in 1956 by Wales. From: "We Wunt Be Druv," p. 54 by Tony Wales, 1976. Charlie Potter also sang this song in a recording made by Mervyn Plunkett at home in Horsham, Sussex, in September 1956.
u. "An Acre of Land," sung by Fred Jordan of Shropshire, from a recording made by Mike Yates in 1965. From Veteran anthology: A Shropshire Lad, 2003.
v. "An Acre of Land," sung by Ethel Grinsdale of Aldborough on 08/01/1972. Recorded by Steve Gardham; Version A. Online at Yorkshire Garland Group, originally published in Gardham, An East Riding Songster, Lincolnshire and Humberside Arts, 1982, pp 11-12 with music score.
w. "An Acre of Land," sung by John Hodson of Aldborough on 29/04/1972. Recorded by: Steve Gardham, B. Online at Yorkshire Garland Group originally published in Gardham, An East Riding Songster, Lincolnshire and Humberside Arts, 1982, pp 11-12 with music score.
x. "An Acre of Land," sung by Lesly Smith of Aldborough on 09/09/1972. Recorded by: Steve Gardham, C. Online at Yorkshire Garland Group http://yorkshirefolksong.net/song.cfm?songID=23.
y. "Sing Ovy, Sing Ivy," Sung by Tom Newman at his home in Clanfield, Oxon in 1972. From Up in the North, Down in the South; songs and tunes from the Mike Yates collection 1964-2000.
E. Versions with no refrains.
a. "Cambric Shirt." From Maryland Folk Legends and Folk Songs; Carey, 1971. The informant Mrs. Alice Ridgeway Tucker from Davidsonville, Maryland was 84 when she died in 1944 so she was born before the Civil War. I've dated this pre-1940
b. "The Cambric Shirt," sung by Sarah Gunning was recorded by Mark Wilson in Medford, Ma., on 5/7/74. Since she is from Kentucky, it's possible this version was learned there.
Vernon Hill's "Elfin Knight" 1912
[Child's headnotes are focused on foreign analogues. These headnotes are focused on organizing Child's ballads A-M and categorizing them with the large corpus of versions (Roud 12) which have been collected or discovered since Child's ESPB was completed in 1898. These ballads are best classified by the interstanzic refrains of which there are four basic types (see Edmunds[1]):
Refrain type A: "Blow, blow, blow, ye winds blow" or "The wind blew the bonny lassie's plaidie awa' "
Refrain type B: Herb refrains, such as "Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme."
Refrain type C: Syllable refrains found in America.
Refrain type D. "Sing ivy," refrains.
Additionally there are several ballad types which, in general, correspond to the refrains. The original ballad was Scottish as evinced by some of the rhymes[2], such as holland(cambric) sark rhyming with with needle wark, even though the earliest extant version, a 1670 broadside, was presumably printed in London[3]. The first ballad type therefore is Scottish (Ballad Type I) and sung in first person as a dialogue between the elfin knight and the maid. Most versions of Ballad Type I have the "Ba, ba, ("Blaw, blaw" or "Blow blow")" first refrain which Edmunds gives in full as "Blow, blow, blow, ye winds blow" with "The wind blew the bonny lassie's plaidie awa" as the second refrain.
Ballad Text type IIa, also Scottish, has a shortened opening of one stanza that resembles the opening stanza of Ballad Text Type I. This example is from from Robert Nicol, Ratch Hill, Kintore, Aberdeenshire who knew this about 1869:
As I gaed up to yonder hill,
Where every rose grew bonnie an' thyme,
I met a fair maid, her name it was Nell,
She longed to be a true lover o' mine.
Ballad Text type IIa uses the "herb" refrains found in Refrain Type B. It's interesting to note that the maid's name is consistently Nell. In America, except for rare Scottish imports (see: JAF Gertrude Decrow, of Boston 1894), the pastoral opening changed and a similar opening, called Ballad Text type IIb, has consistently been found:
As I walked out in a shady grove,
Every rose grows merry in time,
'Twas there I spied a lovely fair maid
And once she was a true lover of mine. [Flanders F]
As I rode out one morning in May,
(Let every rose grow merry in time)
I met a fair maid and to her did say,
"You shall be a true lover of mine" [Barry BBM]
As I was a-walking up Strawberry Lane,
Every rose grows merry and fine,
I chanced to meet a pretty fair maid,
Who said she would be a true lover of mine. [JAF Kittredge, 1917]
Note the IIb opening also in "Cameric Sark," sung by Alexander Brown of Anchor Cottage, Land street, Rothes (Moray) Scotland (Carpenter Collection):
As I was a walkin' early one day,
Where every rose sprung bonnie an' thyme,
It's there I met a bonnie fair may,
An' fain wid she be a true lover o' mine.
Ballad Type III uses the herb refrains of Refrain Type B and C. It is sung by the male suitor or persona who asks a messenger, "Where/Are you going to [. . . ]?" and instructs the messenger to go and "tell her to make me a cambric shirt," which is also the first core riddle of A. Popular versions of Ballad Type III include Whittingham Fair, and Scarborough Fair.
In Ballad Type IV the dialogue and story have disintegrated and the impossible tasks the maid has requested (man's tasks or second set of tasks) are performed on the father's "acre of land." Ballad Type IV usually begins: "My father left me an acre of land," and uses the "Sing ivy" first refrain. Ballad Type IV recently has been given a different Roud number, 21093, and should be regarded as a song or nursery rhyme which has been created from the second set of tasks. It could be an appendix, however, I'm listing those versions here (standard categorization).
_____________________Ballad Text Openings______________________
Ballad Text type I: (1670 broadside, 7 stanzas) "Elfin Knight" blaws his horn, appears at maids bedside
Ballad Text type IIa: (mid to late 1700s 1 stanza) "As I gaed up to yonder hill, rhymes with "Nell."
Ballad Text type IIb: (mid to late 1700s 1 stanza) "As I was a-walking up Strawberry Lane,"
Ballad Text type III: (mid to late 1700s 1 stanza) "Did ye ever travel twixt Berwick and Lyne?" "Are you going to Scarborough Fair?" Maid is not present, lovers communicate via messenger.
Ballad Text type IV (early 1800s no opening) taken from the second set of tasks, "My father gave me an acre of land."
The versions without openings, for example the 1780 broadside (Humours of Love) and The Cambrick Shirt in Gammer Gurton's Garland are identified by the dialogue. Those tasks in first person are Ballad Type II while those in third person (maid is not present and a messenger is used to communicate) are Ballad Type III.
In his book "English Folk-song: Some Conclusions (page 95)" Cecil Sharp shows some changes made to the "herb refrains:
This process of decline may be traced in the refrain of "The Lover's Tasks,” which has been taken down in the following forms:
1. Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
2. Sing, ivy leaf, sweet william and thyme.
3. Every rose grows merry in thyme.
4. Sober and grave grows merry in time.
5. Whilst every grove rings with a merry antine.
The last four are probably corruptions of the first.
The common or core stanzas of this ballad are the impossible tasks which are a courtship dialogue of wits to qualify the two prospective lovers. The prospective male lover takes a variety of forms including the supernatural forms of the elfin knight and the devil. Since Child titles No. 2, "The Elfin Knight," the obvious question is: Who is the Elfin Knight? Child suggests[3] "that the elf is an intruder in this particular ballad" preferring to place the supernatural elf in Child No. 4, Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight. That text, Child 4A, was given by Buchan and Ebsworth [Roxburghe Ballads, British Museum, III, 449] call Buchan's text unreliable. Regardless, both Child 2 and 4 have "Elf-Knight" in their titles. Perhaps George Kinloch's description in Ancient Scottish Ballads, 1826, will suffice as an answer:
Elf is commonly used as synonymous with fairy, though it also signifies a spirit or fiend, possessing qualities of a more evil nature than the “Gude meebours.”—The “Elfin Knicht" comes under the latter description, and in truth, may be viewed as the same person as the devil, who, in the annals of tradition, is a well known tempter of the fair sex.
_____Child A, The Elfin Knight (Interstanzic Refrain A, Ballad Text Type I)_____
Although Child No. 2 is named after version A, there are very few versions where the Elfin (or Elphin) Knight appears. In the ballad story of the 1670 broadside, A, the elf knight blows his horn loud and shrill-- a mating call perhaps. The maid, attracted by his call, beckons him to her side and, like the genie of Aladdin's lamp, he instantly appears at her bedside. He promises to marry her if the maid will first perform a few impossible tasks. Not to be undone, the maid offers to accomplish these tasks after the Elf-knight performs a few impossible tasks of his own. Then the ballad creator of A, trying to draw the ballad to a quick conclusion, writes that it happens that the elf-knight has seven children and a wife, the maid tells him "he can do what he will" but it won't be with her! In this contest of wits between the supernatural elf-knight and the maid, the maid wins. The broadside author attempts to reconcile his quick ending where the maid rejects the elf knight by changing the last line of the interstanzic refrain to "The wind hath not blown my plaid awa'."
Child briefly summarizes the versions giving this information about A: "What stands as the last stanza in the broadside is now prefixed to the ballad, as having been the original burden" and "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." Here's the original image of Child A as found in the copy from The Pepys Collection[4]:
The long title reads: "A proper New Ballad, Entituled, The wind hath blown my Plaid away, Or, A discourse betwixt a young [wo]Man, and the Elphin-Knight, To be sung, with its own pleasant New Tune." The use of "Man" instead of "Woman" is a printer's error. Child remarks that the last stanza "makes no sense here" and calls it the "original burden(chorus/refrain)." Child places the last stanza as the the first as the burden[5], then numbers the stanzas. Here's the last stanza, now the burden:
My Plaid awa, my Plaid awa,
and ere the hill and far awa,
And far awa, to Norrowa
my Plaid shall not be blown awa.
The problem is the last line can't be practically used as the burden/chorus for the entire ballad. If it were a burden/chorus for the entire ballad the last line should appear, "The wind hath blown my plaid awa'." The assumption by Child that the closing stanzas are from another ballad is sound, however, the broadside ballad's opening stanzas (with the Elfin Knight) are corroborated by other versions[6] and should be part of the ur-ballad. The ending of the c.1670 broadside is obviously a reconstruction or recreation by the ballad writer-- while the beginning and the tasks seem to be taken from an earlier unknown ballad (i.e. the ur-ballad).
The refrain line "my Plaid shall not be blown awa," originally found in the last stanza, also appears in the two preceding stanzas-- the two stanzas that are obviously recreated by the broadside author. This change of the 2nd refrain line (4th line) would not have been made in tradition, for traditional singers are not in the habit of changing the refrains. Clearly the last two stanzas of Child's A version were added by the ballad writer who was attempting to bring a quick close to the story. Several songs[7] have emerged with "The wind hath blown my plaid awa" text as a line in the chorus and the line is commonly recognized as a reference to the loss of virginity. This is clear at the end of A when instead of having the wind blow her plaid away-- she rejects the Elfin Knight and then the refrain appears: the wind does not blow her plaid away. The ballad writer has changed the chorus to correspond to the preservation of her maidenhead!
Whether the unknown author of the broadside intended the last stanza to be a burden or chorus is unclear. In this last stanza or buden is a new refrain line (the second) which is: "And ere (owre) the hills and far awa." The lines in this last stanza were probably recreated as Child suggests. Without the interstanzic refrains they appear:
My Plaid awa, my Plaid awa,
And far awa, to Norrowa (Norway).
This burden with its silly rhyme seems to have been recreated as well as the last two stanzas. A similar burden, that uses the interstanzic refrains of A[8], appeared in the 1706 song "Jockey's Lamentation" by Thomas d'Urfey (1653-1723) which was published in the fourth volume of Wit And Mirth: Pills To Purge Melancholy (pp. 99-101), 1719:
’Tis o’er the Hills, and far away,
’Tis o’er the Hills, and far away,
’Tis o’er the Hills, and far away,
The Wind has blown my Plad away.
The tune for this burden provided by d'Urfey, used for "O'er the Hills and Far Awa" "My Plaid 'Away" or "The Wind has blown my Plad away" has been grouped by Bronson under his Appendix A. Since B, was to be sung "to its own proper tune" Bronson has assumed that since B is titled "The Wind hath blawn my Plaid awa" that d'Urfey's tune could be applied to it. Since the tune is in 4/4 time and most "Elfin Knight" versions are in 6/8 (3/4) time, the association is tenuous, at best. Let's look at Child B.
Child corroborates A by giving B, which is "Partly from an old copy in black letter, and partly from the recitation of an old lady" and that "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." Here Child is saying that a few changes were made to A, "Elfin Knight" from tradition. If that is so, the placement of the burden at the beginning certainly wasn't done by the unknown female informant-- it was simply arranged that way by Child to correspond to A. When William Motherwell reprinted A in his Minstrelsy Ancient and Modern, he refrained from calling the last stanza a chorus or burden and placing it at the beginning. About B Motherwell says "that the editor states he gives it from the recitation of two ladies, one of whom is his own mother, and the other an honest fishwife of Musselburgh" (Minstrelsy, Introduction, p. xcix., note 148) which contradicts Child's notes that it was "partly from the recitation of an old lady."
Conjecture seems to be also true about the origin of A itself. Is version A Scottish or merely written to appear to be Scottish or was it recreated by a London broadside writer from a Scottish text? Bronson comments[9] "that the piece has obviously passed through English hands." Broadside expert Steve Gardham corroborates[10]: "Child A was very likely printed in London first. The fact that the added chorus is loosely in Scots means very little. The rest of the ballad is in standard English of the time and in the 17thc very little if any ballads were printed outside London. The fact that A was bound up with an Edinburgh piece means very little as does the Scottifying of a few words in B. I can't remember seeing any ballads from Pepys, Euing or Roxburgh (17thc) that weren't printed in London." George Kinloch, who printed a version of The Elfin Knicht in 1826 says[11], "The Editor is informed that this ballad is of English origin; but he has not been able to discover it in any of the English Collections." Regardless, Child A-E represent the Scottish traditional form, identified by the interstanzic refrains of lines two and four:
2 Ba, ba , ba lilli, ba,
4 The wind shall blow my plaid awa.
This is Interstanzic Refrain Form A, for which there are two variations of the first interstanzic refrain. Bronson has pointed out[12] that the rhythm and melody are similar for both:
2 Ba, ba , ba lilli, ba,
2 Blow, blow, blow ye winds, blow,
This second interstanzic refrain (above) of Type A, "blow ye winds," is from Massachusetts[13] dated c. 1870 but is significantly older since it appears Allen Family song book and was sung by previous generations of family members.
The ballads of Child 2 are best grouped by refrains and Child's Scottish A-E are grouped as Interstanzic Refrain Type A. Included in my Type A forms are several Scottish ballads from The James Madison Carpenter Collection was made available February 2018. A number of important Scottish versions were collected including this version from Alexander Robb that he learned as a boy of about twelve when he worked as a farm laborer[14].
"The Laird o' Elfin" sung by Alexander Robb, School College, New Deer, (Aberdenshire) Scotland Learned from William Booth of Rathen about fifty-five years ago (c. 1875).
The Laird o' Elfin stands on yon hill
Ba-ba-ba lily ba,
An' he blows his trumpet lood an' shrill
An' the wind blaws aye my plaid awa.
"O gin I had that horn in my kist [chest]
An' then be wedded wi' that knicht.
"But afore that I do that wi' thee,
A weel-shewed sark ye maun shew tee me.
"An' ye maun shew it needle-thread free
An' a weel-shewed sark ye maun sew to me.
"But afore that I do that tee thee
I'll gie you some wark to do tee me.
"I have a little wee acre o' land,
An' it's atween the salt seas an' the sand.
"Ye maun ploo it wi' a bugle horn
And ye maun saw't wi' Indian corn.
"An' ye maun cut it wi' your penknife
An' bind it up just as your life.
"An' ye maun stook it ower the sea
An' a dry sheaf ye maun bring to me.
"Robin Redbreast an' the wran
They'll bring tee me my corn hame.
"An' ye maun thras't i' your shee sole
An' ye maun riddle't in younder moose hole.
"An' ye maun winnie it in your nive,
An' ye maun sech it in your glive.
"An' when once ye've done a' this wark
Come ye tee me an' ye'll get your sark."
Others early traditional versions-- including the one by John Walker (from Scottish collector William Walker- not related), Bell Robertson's 1855 version and the fragment from Bell Robertson's mother-- confirm the texts of Child A-E with the "Elfin Knight" or "knight" as found in Walton's version or "trumpeters" in Robertson's version. The Scottish "blaw blaw (blaa, blaa)" refrain has been retained by Scottish travelers from Perthshire in the mid-1990s who do not question the identity of the Elfin Knight[15].
________The "Herb" Refrains: Ballad Text Type II and III, Refrain Type B________
By the mid-1700s a second refrain appeared, known colloquially as the "herb" refrain[16], which was applied to the core riddles or impossible tasks found in stanzas of A. About the same time the "weel-shewed sark" or "holland sark" became a "cambric" or "cambrick" sark or shirt. According to research done by Jürgen Kloss (2012) this likely happened in the latter half of the 1700s and most likely after 1770 when the use of that type of cloth was found in England and Scotland[17].
The "herb refrains" were called "plant burdens" by Lucy Broadwood in a 1907 issue (vol. 3, no. 10) of JFSS. Her notes follow the text and music of an Irish version titled, "The Sea Side," sung by Bridget Geary in 1906. Broadwood comments[18]:
On studying this type of riddle-ballads one cannot fail to be struck by the extraordinary frequency with which " plant-burdens" occur in them. Both abroad and in the British Isles one meets still with so many instances of plants being used as charms against demons, that I venture to suggest that these " plant-burdens," otherwise so nonsensical, are the survival of an incantation used against the demon-suitor. That he should have disappeared from many versions of the riddle-story (where the dialogue only survives), is most natural, seeing that to mention an evil spirit's name is to suwnmnohnitm, in the opinion of the superstitious of all countries. Every one of the plants mentioned in the burdens above quoted is, as a matter of fact, known to folk-lorists and students of the mythology of plants, as "magical." That is to say, from earliest times they have been used both as spells by magicians, and as counter-spells against the evil powers who employ them.
This magical protection of the herbs sung (savory, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme) as the 1st refrain of this ballad was surely lost on the traditional singers of the day. And, the addition of the herb refrains may have nothing to do with magic or superstition at all. The usual rhyme of the herb refrain is "thyme" with "mine" ("parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" with "true lover of mine") and in many cases thyme (pronounced "time") was changed by traditional singers to mean "time" so "and thyme" is also sung "in time." In some cases the herbs "grow merry in time" (rosemary and thyme) and have various distortions (see some variants collected by Cecil Sharp given in the opening paragraphs of this study). Broadwood went on to identify and describe uses of the main herbs found in the first refrain of 2nd Interstanzic Refrain Type[19]:
PARSLEY- Was used by the ancient Greeks at funerals, and on graves. It was so much associated with death that a Greek army fled in a panic on meeting asses laden with it. It is used magically in Germany, and is in the British Isles and Europe generally ominous of something bad, especially if transplanted.
SAGE- Pepys mentions its use on graves near Southampton. It is used in England still for magical purposes on Midsummer's Eve, and is used against the evil eye in Spain, Portugal, etc.
ROSEMARY- Is called in Spain and Portugal "Alicrum" or "Elfin Plant." It is there worn against the evil eye. It is hung up still, and burnt against witches, in Devonshire. It is everywhere also associated with funerals and death.
THYME- Is also magical. It forms, mixed with the "'marygold," the chief ingredient in a recipe (circa i6oo) for an eye-salve or "' unguent " for beholding " without danger the mnospt otent fairy or spirit you may enicounter." Wild thyme is considered in England to bring, death into the house with it. Thyme, rosemary and gilliflowers, are the favourite plants on Glamorganshire graves, where only strongsmelling herbs and plants are permitted.
HOLLY AND IVY- Have been used magically since the earliest heathen times. Holly is "especially abhorrent to witches" in England and other countries of Europe.
After Broadwood suggested that the herbs found in these refrains have with magical properties that work as charms against the forces of evil Ann Gilchrist's wrote a 1930 article, "A Note on the 'Herb' and Other Refrains of Certain British Ballads" [Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. 8, No. 34 (Dec., 1930), pp. 237-250]. Gilchrist remarked that "certain plants are named or invoked, presumably on account of their protective magic." It should be noted that the refrains of Ballad Type IV (Sing Ivy) are not herbs but plants.
The earliest extant use (c.1777) of an interstanzic "herb" refrain (Type B) was found in Child 2F from Mary Barr of Lesmahago who, according to collector George R. Kinloch "learned this about 50 years ago (she was 75 in 1827)." Here are the first two stanzas.
'Lord John' Kinloch Manuscripts, I, 75. C. 1827. From Mary Barr. Child, Version F
1 'Did 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,
Sober and grave grows merry in time
And sew it all without needle-wark:
And syne we'll be true lovers again.
About the same time, c. 1780, a broadside (Madden Ballads 2, Frame No. 1340) "Humours of Love" was published. Although it is missing the opening stanza, it has the modern interstanzic refrain in line 4: "And you shall be a true Lover of mine."
If you will bring me one Cambrick Shirt,
Sweet savory grows, rosemary and thyme,
Without any Needle, or Needle-work,
And you shall be a true Lover of mine.
And wash it down in Yonders Well
Sweet savory grows, rosemary and thyme,
Where never Spring Water or any Rain fell
And you shall be a true Lover of mine.
And hang it up on yonders thorn,
Sweet savory grows, rosemary and thyme,
That never bore blossom since Adam was born,
And you shall be a true Lover of mine.
Now you have ask'd me Questions three;
Sweet savory grows, rosemary and thyme,
I hope you will answer as many for me,
And you shall be a true Lover of mine.
If you will take me an Acre of Land,
Sweet savory grows, rosemary and thyme,
.Between the Salt water and the Sea-sand,
And you shall be a true Lover of mine.
And plow it up with one Ram's horn,
Sweet savory grows, rosemary and thyme,
And sow it all over with one Pepper-corn
And you shall be a true Lover of mine.
And reap it with a Stray of Leather,
Sweet savory grows, rosemary and thyme,
And bend it up with a Peacock's Feather
And you shall be a true Lover of mine.
And put it into a Mouse's hole,
Sweet savory grows, rosemary and thyme,
And prick it out with a Cobbler's Awl,
And you shall be a true Lover of mine.
And when you have done and finished your work,
Sweet savory grows rosemary and thyme,
Then come to me for your Cambrick Shirt,
And you shall be a true Lover of mine.
And you shall be a true Lover of mine.
Another text from the 1780s was published in Gammer Gurton's Garland; Or, The Nursery Parnassus. A Choice Collection of Pretty Songs and Verses. For the Amusement of all little good Children, Who can neither read or run. This book of nursery songs and rhymes, compiled by the legendary antiquary Joseph Ritson (1752-1803), first came out 1783 or 1784 and then was reprinted. This children's version has the standard text used for "Whittingham Fair" and "Scarborough Fair":
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.
Can you wash it in yonder well,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Where never sprung water nor rain ever fell?
And you shall be a true lover of mine.
Can you dry it on yonder thorn,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Which never bore blossom since Adam was born?
And you shall be a true lover of mine.
Now you have asked me questions three,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
I hope you'll answer as many for me.
And you shall be a true lover of mine.
Can you find me an acre of land,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Between the salt water and the sea sand?
And you shall be a true lover of mine.
'Can you plow it with a ram's horn,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And sow it all over with one pepper corn?
And you shall be a true lover of mine.
'Can you reap it with a sickle of leather,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And bind it up with a peacock's feather?
And you shall be a true lover of mine.
'When you have done, and finished your work,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Then come to me for your cambrick shirt.'
And you shall be a true lover of mine.
This "nursery rhyme" version by Ritson is also missing the opening stanza. Both the 1780 broadside and Ritson's song have the "cambrick" shirt (a cloth manufactured in the late 1700s in the UK) and Ritson's version has the interstanzic refrains of "Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme," sung by Martin Carthy and Paul Simon in the 1960s.
The following Scottish version[20], not mentioned by Child, was published in The Scots Magazine, Volume 69, 1807. The ballad was learned in the mid to late 1700s and has an opening stanza of Ballad Text Type IIa as well as the "cambric sark." In this dialogue form the Elfin Knight asks three questions and the maid ask three questions in return. The author, Ignotus, "had it from a person who heard it repeated to him when a youth by his grandfather; who also was acquainted with it in his early years." The text and his comments are here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=ceE5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA527&dq=%22As+I+gaed+up+to+yonder+hill%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwif7v7GvsLZAhV
[He:]
As I gaed up to yonder hill,
(Saffron, sage, rue, myrrh,and thyme,)
I met my mistress her name it was Nell,
" And lass gin ye be a true lover o' mine.
"Ye'll mak' to me a camric sark,
"(Saffron, sage, rue, myrrh,and thyme,)
"Without either seam or needlewark,
"And that an' ye be a true lover o' mine.
"Ye'll wash it out at yonder well,
"(Saffron, sage, rue, myrrh,and thyme,)
"Whar water ne'er ran, nor rain ne'er fall,
"And that an' ye be a true lover o' mine.
[She:]
"Now, Sir, since you speir't me questions three,
(Saffron, sage, rue, myrrh,and thyme,)
"I hope you will answer as mony for me,
"And that an' ye be a true lover o' mine.
"Ye'll plough to me an acre o' land.
"(Saffron, sage, rue, myrrh,and thyme,)
"Atwixt the sea beet, and the sea sand,
"And that an' ye be a true lover o' mine.
"Ye'll till it a' wi' yon cocklehorn,
"(Saffron, sage, rue, myrrh,and thyme,)
"And sow it all o'er wi' a handfu' o' corn,
"And that an' ye be a true lover o' mine.
"Ye'll cut it a' down wi' a dacker o' leather,
"(Saffron, sage, rue, myrrh,and thyme,)
"And lead it a' in on a peacock's feather,
"And that an' ye be a true lover o' mine.
"Ye'll thrash it a' wi' a cobbler's awl,
"(Saffron, sage, rue, myrrh,and thyme,)
"And put it a' up in a mouse's hole,
"And that an' ye be a true lover o' mine.
"And, Sir, when ye hae' done your work,
"(Saffron, sage, rue, myrrh,and thyme,)
"Come to me and get your camric sark
"And syne ye shall be a true lover o' mine."
Beside these early English and Scottish versions is an American version from Miss Amy Perkins in Vermont that according to Phillips Barry and Helen Flanders in the New Green Mountain Songster[21] is as old as Child A:
Miss Perkins version must have been in tradition since the first half of the seventeenth century, then, at least as old as Child A, a broadside dated about 1670.
Here's the first stanza of Perkins' version titled, "Oh, Where Are You Going? I'm Going to Lynn":
"Oh, where are you going?" "I'm going to Lynn."
Every globe goes merry in time.
"Give my love to the lady within
And tell her she's worth a true lover of mine.
The New Green Mountain Songster p. 8 where they write:
The curious expression, "she's worth a true lover of mine," in place of the usual "she shall be a true lover of mine," masks a clue to the actual date and age of the text. The archaic English wryth, worth, "to become," corresponding to the German werden was still in use in the latter part of the seventeenth century. As the singer says, "We always sang it that way," there is not the least doubt that "she's worth a true lover of mine" is founded on an established tradition. The expression "she's worth" is an obsolete form of the future tense: it means, "she shall become," or "she shall be" so that the sense is the same as in the modern reading with the of the archaic word, folk singers generally emended the line to conform to modern usage, "She shall be a true lover of mine"; as in the present instance to understand "worth" as a noun or an adjective.
Even though Barry and all's estimation of the date may be exaggerated, it would seem that through the Perkins' ancestors, the Craigues, McClarys, and Fishers of Scotch descent[22] that when he family came to New Hampshire and Vermont about the time of the American Revolution, that they may have brought the ballad with them. Although the "herb" refrains have been distorted as in many UK versions, it's reasonable to date these refrains back to the early and mid-1700s. Assuming that Kloss's theory about the use of "cambric" in the UK started about 1770, then the versions with "cambric sark" or "cambric shirt" are more recent adaptations of the early form.
It's natural that the opening line (Where are you Going? To [place name])would have local place names. Two famous English versions were named after local fairs; Whittingham Fair and Scarborough Fair, while another mentions Newcastle Hill and an Irish variant Rosemary Lane (also Rosemary Fair). One reason for the popular Whittingham Fair and Scarborough Fair titles is the rhyme of "fair" with "there." Another somewhat similar song is "Newcastle Fair" c. 1810 attributed to James Stawpert, (b.1785? d.1814) which begins:
Ha' ye been at Newcastle Fair
And did you see owse o' great Sandy?
Lord bliss us! what wark there was there;
And the folks were drinking of brandy.
Although Newcastle Fair is a different song, it's possible opening line and the rhyme became associated with "herb refrain" versions of "Cambric Shirt" in the Yorkshire/Northumberland area. The following is the earliest extant MS of one of the "Fair" titles-- Whittingham Fair, as written down by Thomas Hepple of Kirkwhelpington about 1855:
Hepple's MS date 1855
Whittingham Fair
1 'Are you going to Whittingham fair?
Parsley, sage, grown merry in time
Remember me to one that lives there;
For once she was a true lover of mine.
2. 'Tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Parsley, sage, &c
Without ever a seam or needlework,
Then she shall be a true lover of mine.
3. 'Tell her to wash't in yonder well,
Parsley, &c
Where is never sprung, where never rain fell,
Then she shall be &c
4. 'Three hard questions he's gotten to me,
Parsley, &c
But I'll match him with the other three
Before he shall be a true lover of mine.
5 'Tell him to buy me an acre of land
Parsley, &c
Between the sea and the sea-sand,
Then he shall be a true lover of mine.
6 Tell him to plow't with a hunting horn,
Parsley, &c
And sow it with the sickerly corn,
Then he shall &c
7 Tell him to shear'd with the hunting leather,
And bind[23] it up in a pea-cock feather.
Then he shall &c
8 Tell him to trash it on yonder wall,
Parsley, &c
And never let one corn of it fall,
Then he shall &c
9. After he has ended his work,
Parsley &c
Go tell him to come and to have his shirt,
Then he shall be a true lover of mine.
According to the FARNE (Folk Archive Resource North East) website: "This manuscript, by Thomas Hepple of Kirkwhelpington, was sent to the Committee following an appeal by the Duke of Northumberland. The Duke, having been approached by the Committee, offered prizes of £10 and £5 for the two best collections of ancient Northumbrian music in score. Hepple's collection of songs appears to have been the only set of Northumbrian music to have been entered. It was nevertheless warmly received by the Committee, who included Hepple's fine Whittingham Fair in their final publication."
The final publication was J. C. Bruce and J. Stokoe, "Northumbrian Minstrelsy," 1882, where an arrangement of Whittingham Fair appears on page 79-80 (see Bronson 2.22). In The Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore and Legend, III, 7 they report that "'Whittingham Fair' is given by Mr Stokoe with a few variations." The variations or changes by Stokoe conformed to the standard text of "Gammer Gurton's Garland" which included adding a measure to Hepple's text and taking another away.
This prototype was probably used in 1891 when Kidson arranged the traditional text of Scarborough Fair for publication.
________________________Scarborough Fair_________________________
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Remember me to one who lives there,
She once was a true love of mine. (Paul Simon)
When Kidson arranged Scarborough Fair for publication about 1890, never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined the immense international popularity this variant ballad would attain.
"Scarborough Fair." Text from "Traditional Tunes" 1891 as published by Frank Kidson, no informant named.
"Oh 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.
"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.
"And tell her to wash it in yonder dry well,
Savoury sage, rosemary, and thyme;
Where no water sprung nor a drop of rain fell,
And then she shall be a true love of mine.
"Tell her to dry it on yonder thorn,
Savoury sage, rosemary, and thyme;
Which never bore blossom since Adam was born,
And then she shall be a true love of mine.
"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.
"O, will you plough it with a ram’s horn,
Savoury sage, rosemary, and thyme;
And sow it all over with one peppercorn,
Or never be a true lover of mine.
"O, will you reap it with a sickle of leather,
Savoury sage, rosemary, and thyme;
And tie it all up with a peacock’s feather,
Or never be a true lover of mine.
"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."
Kidson gave little information about his arrangement writing only: "The present copy, including the tune, used to be sung by a ballad singer in Whitby streets twenty or thirty years ago, and is still remembered in the district."
Today, thanks to some recent research[24], the story of Scarborough Fair may accurately be told. The pedigree of this popular title-- immortalized by Simon and Garfunkel's recording of "Scarborough Fair" used on the sountrack of the surprise hit movie "The Graduate" (1966)-- begins with Samuel Stather from Beverly who published a version in the August 15, 1883 edition of Leeds Mercury after repsonding to a query by Frank Kidson in the Local Notes and Queries CCXLI. Stather's version was learned "some twenty years ago, an old man named Sam Hayes singing this ballad in Whitby streets[25]." Kidson arranged the version (most likely from Stokoe's "Whittenham Fair") and published it in his 1891 book "Traditional Tunes." The 1st refrain was slightly different: "Savoury sage, rosemary, and thyme." Kidson's arrangement remained popular and was used for the first commercial recording of Child 2 in 1945[26].
The same year Kidson's book was published, 1891, an unusual version of Scarborough Fair (the 1st refrain was missing and the third line was repeated replacing the second) was collected from William Moat, a Whitby fisherman and two years later (1893) was published in English County Songs, by Lucy E. Broadwood and J. A. Fuller Maitland, p. 12. Then in 1915 Clive Carey published a version of "Scarborough Fair"in Ten English Folk-Songs (p. 20-22) which he collected from Robert Beadle of Stoupe Brow, Yorkshire in 1911. Beadle's refrain was originally sung "Parcil, sedge, romary and thyme" but Carey changed it:
To Scarborough Fair are you going?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Oh give my love to a girl who lives there,
For once she was a true lover of mine.
The next year Cecil Sharp published a seven-stanza version of "Scarborough Fair" in his influential book, One Hundred English Folk Songs (No.74, p. 167). The tune and three verses Sharp had collected in 1913 from Richard Hutton of Goathland, Yorkshire. Sharp's version had a first line similar to Kidson's opening line and had extra verses from other sources-- the additional stanzas were from Sharp's other collected versions and Baring-Gould's versions. Here is Sharp's full-text:
Where are you going? To Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Remember me to a bonny lass there,
For once she was a true lover of mine.
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Without any needle or thread worked in it,
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell her to wash it in yonder well
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Where water ne'er sprung nor a drop of rain fell.
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell her to plough me an acre of land
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Between the sea and the salt-sea strand,
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell her to plough it with with one ram's horn,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And sow it all over with one peppercorn,
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And tie it all up with a tom-tit's feather.
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell her to gather it all in a sack,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And carry it home on a butterfly's back.
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
This is the text that Lomax mistakenly assumed was Paul Simon's original source[27]. The melody and text of Simon's hit version came indirectly from Ewan MacColl's version of Scarborough Fair on his LP, "Matching Songs Of The British Isles And America", Riverside Records, 1957, RLP 12-637. MacColl credited it to Mark Anderson, a retired lead-miner, at Middleton-in-Teasdale, Yorkshire, 1947. Whether it was Anderson's melody and text is unknown, since MacColl needed to reference traditional sources for his arrangements[]. MacColl's arrangement of Scarborough Fair was published in his 1960 book, The Singing Island. On his 1965 debut album for Topic, Martin Carthy recorded a new arrangement of MacColl's version. Carthy's version featured a rolling guitar figure that Paul Simon imitated when Simon made his own arrangement. Simon and Garfunkle's recording became the title track of their 1966 album, "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme." The next year Simon and Garfunkle's version of Scarborough Fair was included in the soundtrack for the movie, The Graduate-- and the rest is history!!
____________Nonsense Refrains; The American Variants- Refrain Type C__________
Child's Version J was communicated by Rev. F. D. Huntington who learned the following version in 1828 from his father in Haldey Massachusetts:
1 NOW you are a-going to Cape Ann,
Follomingkathellomeday
Remember me to the self-same man,
Ummatiddle, ummatiddle, ummatallyho, tallyho, follomingkathellomeday.
2 Tell him to buy me an acre of land
Follomingkathellomeday
Between the salt-water and the sea-sand,
Ummatiddle, ummatiddle, ummatallyho, tallyho, follomingkathellomeday.
3 Tell him to plough it with a ram's horn,
Follomingkathellomeday
Tell him to sow it with one peppercorn.
Ummatiddle, ummatiddle, ummatallyho, tallyho, follomingkathellomeday
4 Tell him to reap it with a penknife,
Follomingkathellomeday
And tell him to cart it with two mice.
Ummatiddle, ummatiddle, ummatallyho, tallyho, follomingkathellomeday
5 Tell him to cart it to yonder new barn
Follomingkathellomeday
That never was built since Adam was born.
Ummatiddle, ummatiddle, ummatallyho, tallyho, follomingkathellomeday
6 Tell him to thrash it with a goose quill,
Follomingkathellomeday
Tell him to fan it with an egg-shell.
Ummatiddle, ummatiddle, ummatallyho, tallyho, follomingkathellomeday
7 Tell the fool, when he's done his work,
Follomingkathellomeday
To come to me, and he shall have his shirt.
Ummatiddle, ummatiddle, ummatallyho, tallyho, follomingkathellomeday.
This is the earliest example of Interstanzic Refrain Type C-- the nonsense or syllable refrains. Another early version is "[Holland Shirt.]" as remembered, by Mrs. Lily Delorme of Caddyville, New York. Mrs. Delorme says[28], "This is a jolly little song I used to hear my father and mother sing. It was like this: I don't recall the name of it." Mrs. Delorme's father was born in Starksboro, Vermont, and her mother in Schuyler's Falls, New York.
"Tell her to make me a Holland shirt,"
Slum-a-lum-a nay-cree, slo-mun-nil,
"Sew it without a stitch of needlework"'
Lumi-tu, lumi-tie, lumi-tie-O-tum,
Slum-a-Ium-a nay-cree, slo-mun-nu.
It's not clear why these syllable refrains are attached to some versions found mainly in New England. According Edmunds[29] " Tunes and refrains are mostly in common time, with some variation of the line, "Fluma-lum-a link supa-loo my nee." Some of the texts are archaic and grouped by Bronson (Group A) with those melodies in 4/4 time.
* * * *
The 1966 version Scarborough Fair by Simon and Garfunkel is the best know variant of all the versions of Child 2. That Simon's song was passed from fairly recent tradition (1947) from a Yorkshire lead-minor to Ewan MacColl to Martin Carthy to Simon is essentially the process of dissemination of traditional folk music. It's a process that still continues although the modus of dissemination has drastically changed.
An excellent article about Scarborough Fair and Child 2 is ...Tell Her To Make Me A Cambric Shirt - From The "Elfin Knight" to "Scarborough Fair" by Jurgen Kloss, 2012. Through careful research Kloss has uncovered some of the original folk versions of Child 2 before they were "changed" by collectors and editors. He has also pointed out that there are forms of Child 2 and how they differ.
See also Susan Edmunds thesis "English Riddle Ballads" Chapter 3: The Elfin Knight, (online at Durham theses, Durham University. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7574/). Edmunds' formal approach and excellent writing skills are another important Source I've used-- both Kloss and Edmunds' studies are on my site (see attached to Recordings & Info page).
_Type D Refrains: "Sing Ivy" or "My father left me an acre of land" (Roud 21093)_
The "Sing Ivy" (or known now by the more modern title, "An Acre of Land") songs are British and obviously originated from the second set of impossible tasks of the ballad. The narrative of the ballad is completely gone and what remains is a farcical collection of tasks about farming an inherited "an acre of land." Here's some background information from Steve Gardham who initiated the new Roud number and collected the song in Yorkshire the early 1970s[30]: "It was me who suggested to Steve 'Acre o' Land' should have its own number, even though there are a few interim versions that clearly demonstrate the evolution from one song to the other. The main reason for a separate number was that 'Acre o' Land' had completely lost its riddling/task function and by the 19th century had its own autonomy and was extremely popular. Just about every farm hand in East Yorkshire knew a version when I started recording in the 60s. There are 3 quite different versions on our website www.yorkshirefolksong.net that came from the same place within a few yards of each other."
Later Gardham added[31]: The jump from riddle tasks to inheritance and first person, together with the new refrain, must have been, I feel, a conscious act probably by one person, as these are all big jumps. Changing refrains are common in ballads even where they use proper words, but the whole meaning and purpose of the song changes in 'Sing Ivy' types. What can be seen is a lengthening of the progression of tasks in Elfin Knight types before this takes place. I think it probably happened some time in the middle of the 19thc.
Two "Sing Ivy" versions date back to the 1850s and I've given an early date of "early 1800s" when the song was recreated from the second set of tasks in Child 2. Here's the earliest published version, Child's Version K which was taken from Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes of England, 6th ed., p. 109, No 171. First published in 5th edition, 1853,
My Father Left Me Three Acres of Land- 1853 Halliwell
1 My father left me three acres of land,
Sing ivy, sing ivy
My father left me three acres of land.
Sing holly, go whistle and ivy
2 I ploughed it with a ram's horn,
Sing ivy, sing ivy
And sowed it all over with one pepper corn.
Sing holly, go whistle and ivy
3 I harrowed it with a bramble bush,
Sing ivy, sing ivy
And reaped it with my little penknife.
Sing holly, go whistle and ivy
4 I got the mice to carry it to the barn,
Sing ivy, sing ivy
And thrashed it with a goose's quill.
Sing holly, go whistle and ivy
5 I got the cat to carry it to the mill;
Sing ivy, sing ivy
The miller he swore he would have her paw,
Sing holly, go whistle and ivy
And the cat she swore she would scratch his face.
One of the longest versions (22 stanzas) of "Sing Ivy" is found in the James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/3/J, pp. 06907-06908. The last stanzas are a bit confused and repeated.
A Bunch of Green Holly and Ivy- sung by Daniel Fisher of Weston Newbury, Berkshire, about 1880 when he was a little lad.
My father he died and left me some land,
Sing ivy, sing ivy,
My father he died and left me some land
With a bunch of holly and ivy.
I ploughed it up with three buck horns
I sewed it up with three peppercorns,
I harrowed it with a bramble bush,
I rolled it down with me rollin' pin,
My carn came up and it did look well
I rolled it down with me rollin' pin,
I reaped it down wi' me little pen knife
I shocked it up in nine little shocks,
I builded me a rick in a mouse's hole,
I drawed it to a rick with an old blind rat,
I thrashed it out with three bean stalks
I winnowed it out with the tyale o' me shirt.
I measured it in an old quart cup,
I sacked it up in three mice skins,
I sent it to market with a team o' rats,
The team of rats came rattling back
The whip did crack on the old rat's back
The money came back in the corner of the sack,
The miller came back with a broken back
The team of rats came rattling back
Sing ivy, sing ivy,
The whip did crack on the old rat's back,
With a bunch of holly and ivy.
The team of rats came rattling back
Sing ivy, sing ivy,
The bells did ring and the carter did sing,
With a bunch of holly and ivy.
____________The Carpenter Collection: Child 2 Versions______________
Here's a summary of the Carpenter versions of Child 2 (included are the Sing Ivy versions). The Carpenter master title is Elfin Knight and there are 16 versions, three of which are fragments, "King Ethelred & Cheeld-Vean" is recited and introduces other material.
Cambric Shirt- Robert Nicol (Aber) 1869 Carpenter
Cambric Shirt- Alex Stephens (Aber) c.1869 Carpenter
Cameric Sark- Alex Brown (Aber) c.1870 Carpenter
The Laird o' Elfin- Alex. Robb (Aber) c.1875 Greig/Carpenter
Camerin Sark- Peter Chritie (Aber) c1880 Carpenter
Every Rose Blooms- Mrs Gray (Mor) 1880 Carpenter
True Love of Mine- Christina Roberston (Aber) 1880 Carpenter
Elfin Knight- Bell Duncan (Aber) c.1930 Carpenter
Cambric Shirt- John Ross (Aber) c.1930 Carpenter
King Ethelred & Cheeld-Vean- Thomas (Corn) 1930 Carpenter [non-conforming]
Every rose grows- Morrison (Ross) 1931 Carpenter
True Lover of Mine- McDonald (Ross) 1931 Carpenter
Bunch of Green Holly and Ivy- Fisher (Berk) c.1880 Carpenter
Green Holly & Ivy- E. Newitt (Oxf) 1930 Carpenter
Sing Holly and Ivy- Jim Cox (Minch) 1930 Carpenter
Green Holly An' Ivy- Belcher (Oxf) 1930 Carpenter
__________________Perthshire Scotland Versions from mid-1900s______________
Although the Child 2 is regarded by many as battle of wits between lovers, the Scottish versions of A is a competition between the Elfin Knight and the maid. At least in Perthshire among the Scottish travellers, it's clear that the Elfin Knight is the Devil. A 1956 recording made at The School of Scottish Studies of Bella Higgins and her brother Andrew Stewart (known as the Blairgowrie Stewarts from Perthshire) sums up their family version:
The Traveller meets the Devil, who gives him impossible tasks to do, but when the Traveller quotes the Bible, the Devil disappears in a ball of flame.
This is similar to some Scottish versions of Child 1 and Bella also knew a version of Child 3, a ballad where the Devil confronts a school boy. Unfortunately the stanzas of the archaic Stewart family version of The Elfin Knight could not fully be remembered (see: fragment Bella Higgins "Elfin Knight") and are now lost forever.
In 1955 a Perth version was collected by Collinson and Henderson from "Peasie" Martha Reid (Johnston) of Birnam, Perthshire:
"It's supposed to be him that's doun below (i.e. the Devil) that's giving this woman a task."
Peasie gave a version to Peter Shepheard and her husband Duncan Johnston also knew a few lines. This last example from Perth makes it clear who these Scottish travellers thought the Elphin Knight was:
The Devil and the Maid- As sung by Ronnie McDonald and his father John McDonald at Marshall's field, Alyth, Perthshire in August 1965. Recorded by Peter Shepheard, also Ewan MacColl.
There once was a fair maid went for a walk,
Blow, blow, blow ye wynds blow,
She met a devil on the way.
The weary winds'll blow ma plaidie awa
"Noo," he says tae her, "I will gie ye a task,
Blow, blow, blow ye wynds blow
Ye'll mak tae me a Holland sark,
Aye without either seam or needle work.
An the weary winds'll blow ma plaidie awa
'For ye'll wash it doun in yon draw well,
Where there never was water or a dew drop fell.'
'For ye'll dry it up with one blink o sun,
Blow, blow, blow ye wynds blow
If I do that task for you,
Surely you'll do one for me.
An the weary winds'll blow ma plaidie awa'
'For ye'll fetch to me three acres of land,
Aye atween the salt sea an the salt sea strand.'
'For you'll plough it up with a dooble ram's horn,
An ye'll harrow it ower wi a tree o blackthorn.'
'For ye'll sow it ower wi one pile o corn, [a pile = a grain
And ye'll ripe it up wi one blink o sun.' [ripe = ripen]
'For ye'll shear it down wi a peahen's feather,
And ye'll stook it up wi a stang o an ether.' [stang o an ether = tongue of an adder
'For ye'll yoke two sparrows in a matchbox,
And ye'll cart it home to your own farm yard.'
'For it's when you do that task for me,
Blow, blow, blow ye wynds blow
You come back an ye'll get your sark.'
The weary winds'll blow ma plaidie awa'.
______________________Some Conclusions___________________________
Impossible tasks are requested by a former or prospective lover as a courtship qualification-- but first the other lover requests other impossible tasks which must be performed before "She can be a true lover of mine." The impossible tasks the lovers ask of each other are the core stanzas of this complex ballad.
The ballad is recognized by its interstanzic refrains which vary widely and have deteriorated in tradition from the presumably original "herb" refrain of "Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme."
Child A (Ballad Type I) and its refrains (Interstanzic Refrain Type A) date to the 1670 broadside which was obviously taken from an earlier source. Although Scottish, it was presumed to have been published first in London probably from a Scottish text or print. An early date of c.1650 seems reasonable. The opening stanzas of A with the Elfin Knight are rare but have been corroborated by Child B-E and several traditional versions by Alexander Robb, John Walker, Bell Roberston and a fragment from her mother. Recent versions with the A refrains in Perthshire, Scotland confirm the identity of the Elf Knight as the devil, an understanding that has been lost in the English, Irish and American versions.
The "herb" refrains are characterized by a single opening stanza. The Scottish (Ballad Type IIa) resembles the opening of A "As I gaed ower yon hill" and rhymes with "Nell" his lover's name while the America (Ballad Type IIb) versions usually begin, "As I walked/rode out in a shady grove(or Strawberry lane)." The other opening stanza (Ballad Type III) asks "Where are you going?" and is addressed to a third person, a messenger, who is asked to tell the lover to "make me a cambric shirt" or performe various tasks.
A fourth ballad type, "Sing Ivy" or "My father left me an acre of land" (An Acre of Land) has a new Roud number 21093. The singer inherits an acre of land and performs various impossible tasks which are similar to or inspired by the impossible tasks of the other older Ballad Types. The refrains are still plant burdens-- the first refrain is typically "Sing ovy, sing ivy."
It seems possible that these impossible tasks are much older than c. 1650 and developed out of various riddles centuries earlier. A stanza resembling "Dr. Whewell's riddle" was attached to an early version[32] which can be traced early riddles. It's certainly possible an antecedent of Child 2 may still be discovered.
R. Matteson 2018]
_________________________________
Footnotes:
1. The English Riddle Ballads (Durham theses) by Susan Edmunds, 1985. Chapter 3: The Elfin Knight. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7574/
2. See Gilchrist's "A Note on the 'Herb' and Other Refrains of Certain British Ballads" (Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. 8, No. 34 (Dec., 1930), pp. 237-250) where she comments: The English form of this " Lover's tasks" song rather points to a Scottish or north-country origin, as Scottish "sark" and "wark" are better rhymes than "shirt" and "work," and so are "feather" and "ether" than "feather" and "adder." So, too, the "thimble" and "well" of an American version may have been "thimmel" and "well" originally.
3. See Headnotes (No. 2 Elfin Knight) of Child's "English and Scottish Popular Ballads," Volume 1, 1882.
4. From: English Broadside Ballad Archive; University of California at Santa Barbara, Department of English: EBBA 32070, Magdalene College Pepys - Miscellaneous 358, View online: http://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/32070/xml
5. Although the last stanza does resemble a burden, it was like the previous two end stanzas likely recreated by the broadside writer. Moving it first and calling it a burden, seems extraordinary.
6. Besides Child A, B-E and the Scottish versions from John Walker, Alexander Robb and Bell Robertson's mother all confirm A.
7. The songs are listed as Bronson's Appendix A since the tune of A is "The Wind has Blown my Plaid Away." Among those listed is the 1706 song, "Jockey's Lamentation," by Thomas d'Urfey.
8. Remember that "And owre the hills and far awa" is the first refrain of the original last stanza (Child's first stanza appearing as a burden).
9. "The Ballad as Song," page 258 by Bertrand Harris Bronson - 1969
10. Gardham's comment (slightly edited) appears in a Mudcat Discussion Forum thread, 2018.
11. From: "Ancient Scottish Ballads" by George Ritchie Kinloch, 1827.
12. Also from "The Ballad as Song," page 258 by Bertrand Harris Bronson - 1969.
13. "Blow, ye winds, blow" from 1899 'Family Songbook compiled by Rosa Allen,' p. 14, from long-standing family tradition, Medfield, Massachusetts; Philips Barry, JAF XVIII (1905) pp. 212; 49-50 and E.H. Linscott, Folksongs of Old New England, 1939, p.170-1.
14. Alexander Robb was born February 14, 1863 at Claystiles, district of Rathen, Aberdeenshire. See Greig and Kloss for details of his farm work.
15. See: "Elfin Knight" by Mrs. Martha Reid (Perth) 1955 REC Collinson/Henderson; "Elfin Knight" Bella and Andra Higgins (Perth) 1956 Henderson and also "Devil and the Maid" by John McDonald (Perth) 1965 Shepheard/MacColl.
16. See: A Note on the "Herb" and Other Refrains of Certain British Ballads by A. G. Gilchrist; Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. 8, No. 34 (Dec., 1930), pp. 237-250.
17. ...Tell Her To Make Me A Cambric Shirt - From The "Elfin Knight" to "Scarborough Fair" by Jurgen Kloss, 2012
18. Songs from County Waterford, Ireland by Lucy E. Broadwood, Cecil J. Sharp, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frank Kidson, A. G.Gilchrist; Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. 3, No. 10 (1907), pp. 3-38.
19. Ibid.
20. See also in Kloss (footnote 17).
21. "The New Green Mountain songster: traditional folk songs of Vermont" by Helen Hartness Flanders; Elizabeth Flanders Ballard; George Brown; Phillips Barry. Published by New Haven: Yale University Press; London: H. Milford: Oxford University Press, 1939.
22. Flanders, Ancient Ballads; 1966, Flanders' and Coffin's notes.
23. Hepple has written "bind" twice here-- an obvious mistake.
24. Credit here goes to Jurgen Kloss in 2012 (see footnote 17).
25. Quoted from Jurgen Kloss in 2012 (see footnote 17).
26. In 1954 Gordon Heath & Lee Payant - an American duo that ran a club in Paris - recorded Kidson's "Scarborough fair" for their second LP, Encores From The Abbaye (see the discography at wirz.de & Arnold Ruypens' The Originals) [Kloss].
27. Although I can't find Lomax's actual quote I've read this online in Mudcat and other places: "However, according to Alan Lomax, MacColl's source was probably Cecil Sharp's "One Hundred English Folk Songs", published in 1916."
28. Flanders, Ancient Ballads; 1966, Flanders' and Coffin's notes.
29. Susan Edmunds thesis "English Riddle Ballads" Chapter 3: The Elfin Knight, (online at Durham theses, Durham University. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7574/).
30. Posted by Steve Gardham in the Mudcat Disscussion Forum, March 2018.
31. Ibid.
32. "Cambrick Shirt" was given by Robert Hunt the editor of the London magazine Athenaeum on February 9, 1867 p. 198. He received this text from a "lady from Cornwall" who herself had heard it "when a child" from an "old woman of St. Ives. Teh last stanza appears with this ancient riddle:
A handless man a letter did write,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
And he who read it had lost his sight,
And thou shalt be a true lover of mine.
From Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer- 1898; Dr. Whewell's riddle is—
A headless man had a letter (o) to write,
He who read it (naught) had lost his sight;
The dumb repeated it (naught) word for word,
And deaf was the man who listened and heard (naught).
________________________________
CONTENTS (Individual versions attached to this page on left hand column):
1) The Wind Hath Blown My Plaid Away- 1670, Child A
2) Lord John- Barr (Lanark) Kinloch, c.1777; Child F
Humours of Love- (Lon) c. 1780 broadside Madden
The Cambrick Shirt- (Lon) J. Ritson 1783; Child G
Bridal Sark- Cunningham (Nith) c.1807 Cromek A & B
Camric Sark- Ignotus (Scot) 1807 Scots Magazine
Elphin Knight- Jean Gall (Aber) c. 1820 Robertson; Greig
The Wind Hath Blown My Plaid Away- 1824 Child B
The Elfin Knight- Motherwell MS, c.1825; Child E
Deil's Courting- McWhinnie 1825 Motherwell Child I
The Deil's Courtship- Motherwell c.1825, Child H
The Elfin Knight- (Mearns) Kinloch 1826; Child C
Cambric shirt- John Lonsdale (Lanc) c.1827
The Fairy Knight- (N. Scot) Buchan 1828; Child D
True Lover Of Mine- Biddy Hickey (Lim) c1837 Joyce
Cambridge Shat- Sam Self (Nor) c.1840 Walter Rye
There was a knight- John Walker (Aber) 1843 Child Additions & Corrections
Sing Ivy- little boy (Sus) c.1845 W. P. Merrick
My Father Left Me Three Acres of Land- 1853 Child K
Father Gave Me An Acre of Land- 1853 Child L
Blow Winds Blow- Bell Robertson (Aber) 1855 Greig
Whittingham Fair- Thomas Hepple (Alnwick) c.1855
Scarborough Fair- ballad singer (York) 1860 Kidson
Cambrick Shirt- lady (Corn) 1867 Robert Hunt
The Elfin Knight- Meldrum (Forf) 1869 Child M
Cambric Shirt- Robert Nicol (Aber) 1869 Carpenter
Cambric Shirt- A. Stephens (Aber) c.1869 Carpenter
Cameric Sark- A. Brown (Aber) c.1870 Carpenter
The Laird o' Elfin- Alex. Robb (Aber) c.1875 Greig/Carpenter
Camerin Sark- Peter Chritie (Aber) c1880 Carpenter
Bunch of Green Holly and Ivy- Fisher (Berk) c.1880 Carpenter
Every Rose Blooms- Mrs Gray (Mor) 1880 Carpenter
True Love of Mine- Christina Roberston (Aber) 1880 Carpenter
Scarbro Fair- Sam Hayes (York) 1883 Frank Kidson A
Scarbro Fair- Anon (York) 1884 Frank Kidson B
Carmarthenshire- Anon (Wales) 1888 Arthur Mee
Lover's Tasks- Symons (Corn) c.1890 Baring-Gould Child Additions & Corrections
The Tasks- John Hext (Dev) 1891 Baring-Gould MS
Lover's Tasks- Joseph Dyer (Corn)1891 Baring-Gould
Scarborough Fair- W. Moat (Whit) 1891 Broadwood
Scarborough Fair- A. Wardill (York) 1891 Kidson C
The Lover's Tasks- Mr Gilbert (Som) 1904 Sharp MS
A Yacre of Land- Mr. Greenwood (York) 1904 RVW
An Acre of Land- Frank Bailey (Wilt) 1904 RVW
Cambric Shirt- Mrs. Humphrys (Essex) 1904 RVW
Sing Ivy- William Mason (Hamp) 1906 Gardiner
The Sea Side- Geary (Waterford) 1906 Broadwood
Lover's Tasks- Bessie Huxtable (Som) 1906 Sharp
Lover's Tasks- William Huxtable (Som) 1906 Sharp
Sing Ivy- Anon (York) pre-1906 Moffat & Kidson
Newcastle Hill- Mrs. Russell (Dor) 1907 Hammond
Sing Holly Sing Ivy- Goodyear (Hamp) 1907 Gardiner
Sing Ivy- William Hill (Hants) 1908 Gardiner
Every Rose Is Bonny In Time- (Ulster) 1910 Houston
Scarborough Fair- Robert Beadle (York) 1911 Carey
Scarborough Fair- Richard Hutton (York) 1913 Sharp
Bunch of Green Holly & Ivy- Cholmondely (Oxf) 1917
Holly and Ivy- Mrs. Hedges (Wilt) 1923 Williams
Sing Holly, Sing Ivy- George Keen (Oxf) c.1923
Elfin Knight- Bell Duncan (Aber) c.1930 Carpenter
Cambric Shirt- John Ross (Aber) c.1930 Carpenter
King Ethelred & Cheeld-Vean- Thomas (Corn) 1930 Carpenter
Green Holly & Ivy- E. Newitt (Oxf) 1930 Carpenter
Sing Holly and Ivy- Jim Cox (Minch) 1930 Carpenter
Green Holly An' Ivy- Belcher (Oxf) 1930 Carpenter
Every rose grows- Morrison (Ross) 1931 Carpenter
True Lover of Mine- McDonald (Ross) 1931 Carpenter
Scarborough Fair- Anderson (York) 1947 Carthy
Sing Ivy- G. Osmund (Berk) 1950 Collinson
Heigh Ho Sing Ivy- Bob Copper (Sus) 1952 Kennedy
Strawberry Lane- Thomas Moran (Leit) 1954 Ennis
Elfin Knight- Mrs. Martha Reid (Perth) 1955 REC Collinson/Henderson
Elfin Knight- Bella Higgins (Perth) 1956 Henderson
Sing Ivy- Charlie Potter (Sussex) 1956 Tony Wales
Rosemary Lane- Liz Jefferies (Wex) 1959 Hudleston
Camric Sark- Margaret Tait (Shet) 1960 Bruford
An Acre of Land- Fred Jordan (Shrop) 1965 Yates
Devil and the Maid- John McDonald (Perth) 1965 Shepheard/MacColl
Rosemary Fair- Frank Harte (Dub) 1967 REC
An Acre of Land- Grinsdale (York) 1972 Gardham A
An Acre of Land- Hodson (York) 1972 Gardham B
An Acre of Land- Smith (York) 1972 Gardham C
Sing Ovy, Sing Ivy- Tom Newman (Oxf) 1972 Yates
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