[Milk White Steed] Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight- Sung by Mrs. Nancy E. Shelton, Carmen, N.C., August 8, 1916. EFSSA 1917 and Sharp and Karpeles, 1932
[My title, replacing the generic Lady Isabel. From English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachians I; Sharp/Campbell 1917, where it is version E. It's version D in the 1932 edition. There may have been more verses sung but Sharp often did not include more text because the text was poor.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
No. 3. Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight. [Sharp/Karpeles notes; 1932]
Texts without tunes:—Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads, No. 4. Gavin Greig's Folk-Song of the North-East, ii. art. 106. C. S. Burne's Shropshire Folk-Lore, p. 548. A. Williams's Folk Songs of the Upper Thames, p. 159, Reed Smith's South Carolina Ballads, p. 97. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xix. 232; xxii. 65; xxiii. 375; xxiv. 344; xxvii. 90; xxviii. 148; xxxv. 338.
Texts with tunes—Journal of the Folk-Song Society, i. 246 ; ii. 282 ; iv. 116. English County Songs, p. 164. Kidson's Traditional Tunes, pp. 27 and 172, Northumbrian Minstrelsy, p. 48. Folk Songs from Somerset, No. 84 (published also in English Folk Songs, Selected Edition, vol. i, p. 29, and One Hundred English Folk-Songs, p. 29). A. E. Gillington's Eight Hampshire Folk Songs, p. 4. Gavin Greig's Last Leaves, p. 2. Wyman and Brockway's Lonesome Tunes, p. 82. J. H. Cox's Folk Songs of the South, pp. 3 and 521 (see further references). Mackenzie's Ballads and Sea Songs from Nova Scotia, No. 1. D. Scarborough's On the Trail of Negro Folk Songs, p. 43. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xviii. 132; xxii. 76 (tune only) and 374; xxiv. 333. British Ballads from Maine, p. 14. Davis's Traditional Ballads of Virginia, pp. 62 and 549. Sandburg's American Songbag,
p. 60.
' My Colleen' in version A may, or may not be, a corruption of the May Colvin, Colven, or Collins, of other versions.
[Milk White Steed] LADY ISABEL AND THE ELF KNIGHT- Mrs. Nancy E. Shelton, Carmen, N.C., August 8, 1916
She mounted on the milk white steed
And led the dapple grey
And when she got to her father's house
It was one long hour till day till day
It was one long hour till day
It's hold your tongue my Pretty Polly
And tell no tales of me
And your cage shall be made of the beaten gold
And swing in the willow tree.
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Bronson No. 111 [ABCNotation.com]
T:Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
C:Trad
B:Bronson
O:Sharp MSS., 322I/. Also in Sharp and Karpeles, I932, I,
O:p. 8(D). Sung by Mrs. Nancy E. Shelton, Carmen, N.C.,
O:August 8, T9I6.
M:4/4
L:1/4
K:Gmix % Pentatonic ( -4 -7) Lydian/Ionian/Mixolydian [Pi 1]
G | A B d B | B A G G |
w:She mount-ed on the milk white steed And
A B d B | A3 G | A B d d/d/ | B A G B/B/ |
w:led the dapp-le grey And when she got to her fath-er's house It was
A B G E | D E G B/B/ | A B G E | D3 |]
w:one long hour till day till day It was one long hour till day
W:
W:She mounted on the milk white steed
W:And led the dapple grey
W:And when she got to her father's house
W:It was one long hour till day till day
W:It was one long hour till day
W:
W:It's hold your tongue my Pretty Polly
W:And tell no tales of me
W:And your cage shall be made of the beaten gold
W:And swing in the willow tree.