Pretty Polly- Hays (WV) pre1916 Cox H
[From Folk-Songs of the South; Cox, 1925; Cox's notes follow. She is not named Pretty Polly in text.
R. Matteson 2014]
LADY ISABEL AND THE ELF KNIGHT (Child, No. 4)
This ballad is known in West Virginia as "Pretty Polly," "Six Kings' Daughters," "The King's Daughter," "The False Lover," and "The Salt-Water Sea." Nine variants have been recovered.
For American variants see Child, M, 496 (Virginia; from Babcock, Folk-Lore Journal, VIII, 28) ; Journal, XVIII, 132 (Barry; Massachusetts) ; XIX, 232 (Belden; Missouri); XXII, 65 (Beatty; Wisconsin), 76 (Barry; New Jersey, tune only),
374 (Barry; Massachusetts; from Ireland; also readings from other texts); XXVI, 374 (Mackenzie; Nova Scotia; cf. Quest of the Ballad, pp. 93, 174, 183); xxiv, 2)33, 344 (Barry; Massachusetts and Illinois; from Irish sources); XXXVII, 90 (Gardner; Michigan); xxviii, 148 (Perrow; North Carolina); xxxv, (Tolman and Eddy; Ohio); Wyman and Brockway, p. 82 (Kentucky); Campbell and Sharp, No. 2 (Massachusetts, North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia); Focus, IV, 161, 212 (Virginia); Child MSS., xxi, 4 (4, 6); Minish MS. (North Carolina). In Charley Fox's Minstrel's Companion (Philadelphia, Turner & Fisher), p. 52, may be found "Tell-Tale Polly. Comic Ballad. (As sung by Charley Fox.) "
For references to American versions, see Journal, xxix, 156, note, 157; xxx, 286. Add Shearin and Combs, p. 7; Bulletin, Nos. 6-10. For recent British references see Journal, xxxv, 338; Campbell and Sharp, p. 323.
H. "Pretty Polly." Communicated by Miss Lucile V. Hays, Glenville, Gilmer County, November, 1916; obtained from her mother, who could recall it in part only.
(The lover comes and the elopement is planned.)
(They go to the stable where there are thirty-and-three horses and take two.)
1 She mounted on the bonnie, bonnie brown,
And he on the dappled gray,
And away they rode from her father's house,
Before the break of day.
(They rode until they came to the sea.)
2 "Take off, take off those diamonds fair
And give them unto me,
For is n't it a shame such jewels as those,
Should lie with you in the sea?"
3 "Take off, take off that pretty silk dress,
And hang it upon yon tree,
For isn't it a shame such . . .
Should lie with you in the sea?"
4 "Turn your face to the tree of the wood
And your back to the bank of the sea,
For it does not become any young man
A naked woman's body for to see."
5 He turned his face to the tree of the wood
And his back to the bank of the sea,
And manfully she took him in her arms
And tripped him into the sea,
6 Saying, "Lie there, lie there, you false-hearted man,
Lie there instead of me!
For you promised to take me to St. Mary's,
And there you would marry me."
7 Then she mounted on the bonnie, bonnie brown,
And led the dappled gray,
And away she rode to her father's house,
Before the break of day.
8 "Hold your tongue, my pretty parrot bird,
Don't tell any tales on me,
And your cage shall be made of yellow beaten gold,
And the doors of ivory."