The Outlandish Knight- Hilton (Norf) 1908 Williams
[From Penguin Book (1959): text from Mr. Lugg, Cornwall 1905, tune collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams from Mr. Hilton of South Walsham, Norfolk, in 1908.
R. Matteson 2011/2018]
Outlandish Knight
This popular text has been sung by Norma Waterson and others. Ralph Vaughan Williams didn't actually note a text from Mr. Hilton at all, so far as can be told; just the tune. The Penguin text is mainly that noted by C. S. Parsonson from a Mr. Lugg of Launceston, Cornwall, in 1905, with additional verses from other, unspecified, sources (probably broadsides). Mr. Lugg's set was published in The Journal of the Folk Song Society vol.IV (issue 15) 1910; pp.116-117.
From the notes to the Penguin Book (1959):
"This ballad has many titles. Scholars know it as Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight or May Colvin, but An Outlandish Rover, The Highway Robber, The Old Beau are among titles preferred by folk singers. Child...noted it as one of the most widespread of ballads, with relatives in Poland, Germany, Scandinavia, France, the Netherlands (as Halewijn), and elsewhere, as far afield as Australia. It is also among the most persistent, being not infrequently sung today. Some scholars see in it traces of the Bluebeard story, others believe it may be an offshoot of the legend of Judith and Holofernes. Perhaps more plausible is the theory that the ballad is descended from a folk-tale about a malevolent water-spirit who transforms himself into a knight and marries a girl with the intention of carrying her off to his watery home. The genial incident of the dialogue with the parrot (borrowed from Oriental tradition?) was isolated and made into a comic stage song, called Tell-Tale Polly (c. 1860).
Within this century, besides our Norfolk set, versions have been printed from Westmoreland (FSJ vol.II, p.282), Yorkshire (three versions, FSJ vol.II, pp. 282-3), Herefordshire (FSJ vol.IV, p.122), Hertfordshire (FSJ vol.IV, p.118), Sussex (FSJ vol.IV, p.121), Wiltshire (Folk Songs of the Upper Thames, ed. A. Williams, 1923; pp.159-161), and Somerset (four versions, FSJ vol.IV, pp.119-121); Sharp reported that he had found 23 sets of it in that county), Devon (FSJ vol.IV, p.119) and Cornwall (FSJ vol.IV, pp.116-117). A fragmentary version in Manx is printed in FSJ vol.VII, p.301)." -R.V.W./A.L.L.
This version was collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams from Mr. Hilton of South Walsham, Norfolk, in 1908. It was first published in the Folk Song Journal, vol. IV, p. 123.
THE OUTLANDISH KNIGHT- Sung by Mr. Hilton, South Walsham, Norfolk (R.V.W. 1908) From the Penguin Book Of English Folk Songs
'An outlandish knight from the north land came,
And he came wooing of me;
And he told me he'd take me to that northern land,
And there he would marry me.'
'Well, go and get me some of your father's gold,
And some of your mother's fee,
And two of the very best stable steeds,
Where there stand thirty and three.'
She borrowed some of her father's gold,
And some of her mother's fee,
And away they did go to the stable door,
Where horses stood thirty and three.
She mounted on her lilywhite horse,
And he upon the grey,
And away they did ride to the fair river side,
Three hours before it was day.
He says: 'Unlight, my little Polly,
Unlight, unlight,' cries he,
'For six pretty maids I've drowned here before,
And the seventh thou art to be.
'Pull off, pull off your silken gown,
And deliver it unto me,
For I think it's too fine and much too gay
To rot in the salt water sea.'
She said: 'Go get a sickle to crop the thistle
That grows beside the brim,
That it may not mingle with my curly locks,
Nor harm my lilywhite skin.'
So he got a sickle to crop the thistle,
That grew beside the brim,
She cached him around the middle so small,
And tumbled him into the stream.
Lie there, lie there, you false-hearted man,
Lie there instead of me,
For six pretty maidens thou has drowned here before,
And the seventh has drowned thee.'
Then she mounted on her lily-white horse,
And she did ride away,
And she arrived at her father's stable door
Three hours before it was day.
Now the parrot being in the window so high,
A-hearing the lady, he did say:
I'm afraid that some ruffian have led you astray,
That you've tarried so long away.'
Don't prittle, don't prattle, my pretty Polly,
Nor tell no tales of me,
And your cage shall be of the glittering gold,
And your perch of the best ivory.'
Now the master being in the bedroom so high,
A-hearing the parrot he did say:
What's the matter with you, my pretty Polly,
You're prattling so long before day?'
There come an old cat on top of my cage,
To take my sweet life away.
I was just calling on my young mistress
To drive that old puss away.'