Pretty Polly- Glada Gully;
[No date given; From Folk Songs from the Southern Highlands published March 1938 by Mellinger Henry.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
2. LADY ISABEL AND THE ELF-KNIGHT (Child, No. 4)
This ballad has wide circulation both in Europe and America. It rivals "Barbara Allen" and "The House Carpenter" in the number of variants that have been found in America. See Barry, No. 4; Barry-Eckstorm-Smyth, p. 14; Belden, No. 1; Brown, p. 9; Campbell and Sharp, No. 2; Cox, No. 1; Davis, No. 3; R. W. Gordon, The New York Times Magazine, October 9, 1927, p. 22; Hudson, No. 1; Mackenzie, Ballads', No. 1; Mackenzie, The Quest, pp. 93, 174, 182; Sandburg, p. 60; Scarborough, p. 43; Shearin, p. 3; Shearin and Combs, p. 7; Reed Smith, No. 1; Reed Smith, Ballads, No. 1; Wyman and Brockway, p. 82; Journal, XVIII, 132 (Barry); XIX, 232 (Belden); XXII, 65 (Beatty), 76 (Barry), 374 (Barry); XXVII, 90 (Gardner); XXVIII, 148 (Perrow);XXXV, 338 (Tolman and Eddy) ;XLII, 254(Henry). Cf. Cox's headnote (No. 1) for further American references. Add Barry, Bulletin of The Folk-Song Society of the Northeast, No. 1, p. 3; Jones, p. 13; PTFLS, No. 10, pp. 138—140.
Version B: "Pretty Polly." The song was recorded near Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, by Glada Gully, a student in Lincoln Memorial University Harrogate, Tennessee.
1. When Polly gets sleepy, she hangs down her head,
And calls for a candle to light her to bed.
He followed her up, he followed her down;
He followed her to the room where she lay.
"You take part of your father's gold,
Which lies at your mother's feet,
Two best horses from your father's stable
Wherein stand thirty and three."
2. She took part of her father's gold,
Which lay at her mother's feet,
Two best horses from her father's stable,
Wherein stood thirty and three.
She rode and rode until she came
To the salt water sea.
"Get down, get down, pretty Polly;
I have some tale for thee,
I have drowned six of the king's daughters,
And the seventh you shall be."
3. "Young man, young man, is that what you promised me?
You promised to take me to the great gold land,
And there for to marry me."
"Take off that fine silk robe,
And lay it on yonder rock
For it is too costly and fine
For the sand of the sea to rot."
4. "Turn your back to the greenwood side,
Your face to the salt water sea;
Ain't it a pity that such pebbles [1] as you
A naked woman should see?"
He turned his back to the greenwood side,
His face to the salt water sea;
She picked him up so manfully
And hove him into the sea.
5. "Give me your hand, pretty Polly,
Give me your hand," he cried,
"And everything I promised you,
I'll make it come abide."
"Lie there, lie there, you false-hearted wretch!
Lie there in the place of me;
You've drowned six of the king's daughters,
And king over them you shall be!"
6. She mounted then the milk-white steed,
And led the drossly[2] gray.
She rode it home at her father's house,
One long hour before day.
Up cried, up cried, the pretty little parrot,
Wherein his cage he stay:
"What's the matter, what's the matter, pretty Polly?
What makes you ride so long before day?"
"Hold your tongue, my pretty little parrot,
Tell no tales on me.
Your cage will be made of yellow beaded[3] gold
And shall hang in a willow tree."
7. Up cried, up cried, the old lord of all
In his bed-room there where he lay.
"What's the matter, what's the matter, pretty Polly?
What makes you quack so long before day?"
"There come three cats to my cage door,
And threatened to weary me,
And I had to call pretty Polly
To chase them cats away."
1. peoples
2. dappled
3. beaten