Nine Kings' Daughters- Donald (VA) 1918 Sharp E
[My title, replacing the generic Lady Isabel. From English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachians II; Sharp/Karpeles. There is a different version E in Sharp/Campbell which is the first edition from 1917. The Sharp/Karpeles notes follow.
R. Matteson 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.
E. [Nine Kings' Daughters] Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight- Sung by Mrs. LAURA VIRGINIA DONALD at Dewey, Va., June 6, 1918. Pentatonic. Mode 3 (Tonic A).
1. He followed her up and he followed her down,
He followed her to the room where she lay,
And she had not the power to flee from his arms,
Nor the tongue to answer Nay, nay, nay,
Nor the tongue to answer Nay.
2 She got on her pony[1], pony brown,
He got on the iron-grey.
They rode till they came to the blue water sea
In the length of a long summer day.
3 Get down, get down, my pretty little Miss,
Get down, these words I say.
Here I've drownded nine kings' daughters,
And you the tenth shall be.
4 Pull off, pull off that fine silken gown,
And lie it on yonders stone,
For it cost your father too much money
For to rot in the salt sea foam.
5 Turn your face around and about,
Turn to the green leaves on the tree,
For I don't think as nice a gentleman as you
A naked lady should see.
6 She picked him up and she plunged him in,
She plunged him in the depths of the sea,
Lie there, lie there, you false-hearted soul,
In the place of poor me.
7 Hand me down your soft silk hand,
O hand it down to me,
O hand me down your soft silk hand,
And married we shall be.
8 She got on her pony, pony brown,
And she led her iron grey.
She rode till she came to her father's gate,
'Twas just three hours till day.
9 My pretty little parrot, my pretty little parrot,
Don't tell no tales on me,
Your cage shall be made out of yellow beaten gold
And hung in the willow tree.
1. usually, bonny not pony.