[Pretty Fair Maid] Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight- Collected by Ellen Hammond Westfield, Wisconsin. pre- 1909
[My title replacing the generic Child designation. Taken from: Some Ballad Variants and Songs by Arthur Beatty; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 22, No. 83 (Jan. - Mar., 1909), pp. 63-71. Beatty says No. III was taken down from oral recitation, by Miss Ellen Hammond, at Westfield, Wisconsin.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
III. LADY ISABEL AND THE ELF-KNIGHT
[Pretty Fair Maid] from oral recitation, by Miss Ellen Hammond, at Westfield, Wisconsin.
The lord one night was standing by,
And unto his rich castle came
A-courting his daughter so pretty and fair,
But no one knew his name, name, name.
He followed her high and he followed her low,
And he followed her into her room,
She had no power to bid him go,
No power to bid him come, come, come.
"Go steal for me your father's gold,
Likewise your mother's fee,
And the best span of horses that is in your father's barn,
All there stand thirty and three, three, three."
She stole for him her father's gold,
Likewise her mother's fee,
And the best span of horses that was in her father's barn,
All there stand thirty and three, three, three.
She mounted upon her milk-white steed,
And he on the iron-gray;
They rode till they came to the brink of the sea.
O long, long before day, day, day.
"'Light off, 'light off, my pretty, fair maid,
'Light off, I say unto thee;
For six kings' daughters I have drowned here,
And you the seventh shall be, be, be."
She turned herself all round and round,
And viewed the leaves on tree.
"O think what a sin and a very great shame
For to drown a maid like me, me, me."
He turned himself all round and round,
And viewed the leaves on the tree,
She took him by his waist so small,
And plunged him into the sea, sea, sea.
"Lie there, lie there, you false-hearted knight,
Lie there, I say unto thee,
For if six kings' daughters you have drowned here,
Why you the seventh shall be, be, be."
She mounted upon her milk-white steed,
And led the iron-gray,
She rode till she came to her own father's door,
O long, long before day, day, day.
The first that she saw was her own father dear,
From his chamber-window so high,
Saying, "What is the matter with my pretty Polly,
That she's out so long before day, day, day?"
"The old cat came to my cage door,
And she frightened me so, as you see,
I was only a-calling on my pretty Polly,
For to call the old cat away, way, way."