Pretty Pollee- Hayes (ME) pre1940 Flanders E
[My title, replacing the generic Outlandish Knight. Flanders- Ancient Ballads, 1966. I have no idea why Flanders has "Pollee" instead of "Polly"- that makes no sense. Hayes sent in corrections to his version which I've added in brackets and appear at the end in the footnotes.
This version starts out like Child E (less similarly D) which is unusual in the US/Canada. Notes by Coffin follow.
R. Matteson Jr. 2014]
Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight
(Child 4)
This song is known to practically all the ballad-singing people of Europe from Scandinavia to the Latin countries and into Poland to the Netherlands. Its theme, the story of the ogre who decoys maidens to their deaths but who is at last thwarted by an opportunistic girl, is widespread in tales (see Bluebeard and related matter) as well. Longer versions of the song may involve a conversation in which the girl asks her brother's permission to go with the lover who has sung irresistible melodies; a choice given the maid between hanging and being stabbed; remarks by the head of the decapitated lover; a meeting between the girl, who is carrying the ogre's head, and the ogre's mother; and the conquering maiden's blowing her horn like a warrior as she approaches her father's castle. It is easy to see that the Anglo-American texts, where even the supernatural nature of the lover has pretty well vanished and where the naive chivalry of the villain gives the girl her chance, are abbreviated and somewhat pale. However, the true core of the story, the vigorous nature of the heroine, is preserved faithfully--almost as well as in French Canada where Jeanneton kicks the man in the stream as he pulls off her stocking and then holds him under with a branch.
Versions similar to A and B below (see Child E), in which the girl is told to remove a series of garments, are more common to New England than to the rest of the United States. Texts C and D, in which nettles or other brambles are removed from the river's edge, are not until except in the opening stanza which is borrowed from Child 105, nor are texts like L where the parrot (note he is a pirate in A) has been omitted. The parrot in "Lady Isabel" and the parrot in "Young Hunting" (Child 68) often get confused anyhow. It is somewhat unusual, however, to find as one does in Versions L and M that the girl recites what has happened to her. Obviously, from what goes on between her and the parrot, in Anglo-American tradition she would prefer to drop the subject.
The European backgrounds of this have been intensively studied. Grundtvig (Danmark's gamle Folkeviser (Copenhagen, 1853-90], IV) made an elaborate investigation of its dissemination; Child, 22 f., spent a long introduction on it; and more recently it has come under the thorough attention of Iivar Kemppinen (The Ballad of Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight, Heisinki, 1954) and Holger Nygard. Nygard's two articles, in JAF, LXV, 1-12, and LXVIII, 141-52, give one a start on a bibliography and a nice introduction to the problems involved; his book, The Ballad of Heer Halewijn (Knoxville, 1958), is a complete study. Anglo-American bibliographies and discussion, are found through Coffin, 32-35, Belden, 5-6; and Dean Smith, 97. The song is included in Barry's British Ballad's from Maine, 14.
The large group of tunes for this ballad falls (indistinctly) into two groups: 1) the versions of Burling, Harrington, Moses, Amey, Russel, Fish (which is especially close to Moses) and perhaps Pease (close to Russell?); and 2) Lougee, with Daniels and George (distantly close to Lougee, but close to each other). The Hayes version seems outside these groups, as does that of Lane which may be related to group I. Comparison with BCI groups reveals that our group I is part of BCl's group A, and our group 2, part of his group B.
E. [Pretty Pollee] Sung by Hanford, Hayes of Stacyville, 1941, to H. H. F.- and, A. B. Published in Ballads Migrant To New England, 129. [1] H. H. F., Collector; September 21, 1940. Structure: ABCD (2,2,2,2); Rhythm B; Contour: pendulum-like (angular); Scale: major t.c. C. This analysis uses the first stanza.
[Pretty Pollee] The Outlandish Knight
There was a knight came from the Northland
And from the Northland came he.
[He courted a beautiful maiden fair
And happy she seemed for to be.]
[He courted her for her father's gold
And for her mother's fee.
He said he would rake her back to the Northland
And married there they would be.]
"Bring me some of your father's gold
And some of your mother's fee;
Two of the best horses out of the stable
Where there stands thirty and three."
[She brought him some of her father's gold;
Some of her mother's fee.
Two of the best horses out of the stable
Where there stood thirty and three.]
She leaped upon a milk-white steed
And he took a dapple-gray.
They rode till they came to the river's side
Three hours before it was day.
["Dismount, dismount," this young man said,
"Deliver him onto me.
Six pretty fair maidens I've drownded here.
The seventh one drownded shall be thee."]
"Strip off, strip off your silks and gowns
And deliver them unto me.
I'm sure they are too cost-e-lee
To rot in the salt sea."
"If I must strip off my silks and gowns
You must turn your back to me
For it isn't becoming a robber like you
A naked woman to see."
He turned his back unto her
A-viewing the leaves so green.
She caught him by the waist so small
And plunged him out into the sea.
He droop-ed high, he droop-ed low
And turned to the top of the tide
Saying, "Reach me your hand, my pretty Pollee,
And I will make you my bride."
"Lie there, lie,there, you (my) false young man,
Lie there, lie there," cried she;
"Six maidens you have drownded here.
The seventh one drownded. thee."
She leaped upon her milk-white steed
And led her dappled gray.
she rode till she came to her own father's house
One hour before it was day.
The parrot, being up in the treetops so high
After hearing the maiden, did say,
"What is the my pretty Pollee,
You tarry so long before day?"
*Oh, hold your tongue, my pretty polly,
Don't tell no tales upon me.
Your cage shall be made of the glittering gold
And hang upon yonder green tree."
The old man, being up in the window so high
And hearing the parrot, did say,
"What is the matter, my pretty Pollee,
You prattle so long before day?"
"Oh, nothing, oh, nothing," the parrot replied,
"Oh, nothing, I'm sure it to be.
The cat is up in the window so high
And she is a-watching for thee."
'Well turned, well turned, my pretty pollee,
Well turned, well turned," said she.
"Your cage shall be made of the glittering gold
And the doors of ivory."
Footnotes:
1. On December 2, 1940, Mr. Hayes sent to Mrs. Franders the following alterations and additions to the song as he had sung it in September.
In place of stanza 1,
There was a rich knight came from the Northland
And from the Northland came he;
He courted a beautiful maiden fair
And happy she seemed for to be.
He courted her for her father's gold
And for her mother's fee.
He said he would rake her back to the Northland
And married there they would be.
After stanza 2,
She brought him some of her father's gold;
Some of her mother's fee.
Two of the best horses out of the stable
Where there stood thirty and three.
After stanza 3,
"Dismount, dismount," this young man said,
"Deliver him onto me.
Six pretty fair maidens I've drownded here.
The seventh one drownded shall be thee."