Pretty Polly- Sung by Hill Jackson (African-American), Brown's Cove, Va., June 1, 19I7. Collected by Miss D. R. Martin, J. M. McManaway; music noted by John Stone, November 3, 1920.
[From Davis, Tradirional Ballads of Virginia; 1929. His notes follow. The names Polly, Colendee, Colvin, Collean, Collenendee, Goldan, Goldin, are generic slang words for the Irish word, cailin, meaning "girl," "girlfriend" or "lover." (Barry 1909) R. Matteson 2011]
LADY ISABEL AND THE ELF-KNIGHT
(CHILD, NO.4)
THIS ballad is one of the few most frequently found in Virginia, where variously known as "Pretty Polly," "The Seven King's Daughters," "King's Daughter," "The Pretty Gold Leaf," "The Salt Water Sea," "Miss Mary's Parrot," and under several other titles. Its polyonymity is almost equal to its ubiquity - twenty-eight variants under sixteen different titles. In Virginia it does not, however, when compared with" Barbara Allen," "The House Carpenter" and several others quite live up to its reputation of having obtained the widest circulation of all ballads. Child's remarkable introduction to this ballad discusses at some length its extraordinary currency in the southern as well as the northern nations of Europe. Space is also given to a consideration of the hypothesis that the ballad is a wild shoot from the story of Judith and Holofernes, with Holofernes the original of the Elf-Knight. Child concludes; "It is a supposition attended with less difficulty that an independent European tradition existed of a half-human, half-demonic being, who possessed an irresistible power of decoying away young maids, and was wont to kill them after he got them into his hands, but who at last found one who was more than his match, and lost his own life through her craft and courage. A modification of this story is afforded by the large class of Bluebeard tales."
All the Virginia texts correspond much more closely with the Child series C-G (and Sargent and Kittredge H) than to A and B. Warning might perhaps be given of the confusion of Pollies in most of the Virginia texts. The girl and the parrot have the same name and are not always immediately distinguishable.
For American findings of this ballad see Barry, No. 4; Belden, No. 1 (fragment); Brown, p. 9 (North Carolina); Bulletin, Nos. 2-4, 6-12; Campbell and Sharp, No. 2 (Massachusetts, North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia); Child, III, 496 (Virginia, from The Folk-Lore Journal, VII, p. 28); Cox, No. I and p. 521 (fragment and melody); Hudson, No. I (Mississippi); Jones, p. 301 (fragment); Journal, XVIII, 132 (Barry, Massachusetts, text and melody); XIX, 232 (Belden, Missouri); XXII, 65 (Beatty, Wisconsin), 76 (Barry, New Jersey, melody only), 374 (Barry, Massachusetts, text and melody, Missouri), 344 (Barry, Massachusetts); XXVII, 90 (Gardner, Michigan); XXVIII, 148 (Perrow, North Carolina); XXXV, 338 (Tolman and Eddy, Ohio); Mackenzie, Ballads, No. I, and p. 391 (melody); Sandburg, P: 60 (R. W. Gordon Collection); Scarborough, p. 43 (Texas, text and melody); Shearin, p. 3; Shearin and Combs, p. 7; Reed Smith, No. I; Reed Smith, Ballads, No. I; Wyman and Brockway, p. 82. For additional references, see Cox, p. 3; Journal, XXIX.
PRETTY POLLY- Sung by Hill Jackson (African-American), Brown's Cove, Va., June 1, 19I7
"He followed me up, he followed me down,
He followed me all the way;
I had not the heart to say one word,
Nor heart to say him nay, nay, nay,
Nor heart to say him nay."
"You get all of your father's gold,
Likewise your mother's fee,
And two of your father's best horses
Which are of thirty and three,
And come along with me."
She jumped upon the bonny, bonny, brown,
And he the piebald bay,
And rode along by the broad water side
That lonely lazy summer day, day, day,
That long summer day.
"Set you down, set you down, Pretty Polly,
And chat a while with me;
For here I've drownded six king's daughters,
And you were the seventh to be, to be,
And you were the seventh to be."
"No, Jimmy, my pretty Jimmy,
That's not what you promised me;
You promised to take me to the marriage land,
And there to marry me, me, me,
And there to marry me."
"Pull off, pull off those costly robes,
And hang them on yonder tree;
They are too costly and fine
To swim in the salt water sea, sea, sea,
To swim in the salt water sea."
"Turn your face about
Into the leaves of the tree."
She picked him up in her arms so strong
And plunged home [sic] into the sea, sea, sea,
And plunged home into the sea.
"Lie there, lie there, you false-hearted wretch,
Lie there, instead of me;
Six king's daughters you've drownded there,
And I the seventh was to be, be, be,
And I the seventh was to be."
"Oh no, Polly, oh no, Polly,
All I want is help from thee,
And if I get to shore again,
I'm sure to marry thee, thee, thee,
I'm sure to marry thee."
She jumped upon the bonny, bonny, brown,
And he the piebald bay,
And arrived at her father's house
Three hours before 't was day, day, day,
Three hours before 't was day.
She put the gold into its place,
And the horses where its would be,
And arrived into her chamber fair,
Two hours before 't was day, day, day,
Two hours before 't was day.
Then up rised that pretty parrot
. . . . . . . .
"Oh, what are you doing up
So long before't was day, day, day,
So long before 't was day?"
"Set you down, get you down, Pretty Polly,
Don't tell no tales on me;
Your cage shall be made of hand-beaten gold,
The door out of ivory, -ry, -ry,
The door out of ivory."
Then up rose that good old man,
Then up rose that good old man.
"What are you doing up
So long before 'tis day, day, day,
So long before 'tis day?"
"There are three cats at my cage door,
Trying to do violence to me,
And I'm just call (-ing) Miss Polly
To drive those cats away, -way, -way,
To drive those cats away."
_______________________
Bronson No. 103 [ABCNotation.com]
T:Pretty Polly
T:Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
C:Trad
B:Bronson
O:Davis, "Traditional Ballads of Virginia", 1929, p. 54g(B);
O:text, pp. 65-67. Sung by Hill Jackson (Negro), Brown's Cove,
O:Va., June 1, 19I7. Collected by Miss D. R. Martin, J. M. McManaway;
O:music noted by John Stone, November 3, 1920.
M:4/4
L:1/4
K:C % Hexatonic ( -4) Lydian/Ionian
E | G G c c | B A G E | G G c E |
w:He followed me up, he followed me down, He followed me all the
G3 E | G G/G/ c c | B A G E |
w:way; I had not the heart to say one word, Nor
G G G D | E G G D | G G G D | C3 |]
w:heart to say him nay, nay, nay, Nor heart to say him nay.
W:
W:"He followed me up, he followed me down,
W:He followed me all the way;
W:I had not the heart to say one word,
W:Nor heart to say him nay, nay, nay,
W:Nor heart to say him nay."
W:
W:"You get all of your father's gold,
W:Likewise your mother's fee,
W:And two of your father's best horses
W:Which are of thirty and three,
W:And come along with me."
W:
W:She jumped upon the bonny, bonny, brown,
W:And he the piebald bay,
W:And rode along by the broad water side
W:That lonely lazy summer day, day, day,
W:That long summer day.
W:
W:"Set you down, set you down, Pretty Polly,
W:And chat a while with me;
W:For here I've drownded six king's daughters,
W:And you were the seventh to be, to be,
W:And you were the seventh to be."
W:
W:"No, Jimmy, my pretty Jimmy,
W:That's not what you promised me;
W:You promised to take me to the marriage land,
W:And there to marry me, me, me,
W:And there to marry me."
W:
W:"Pull off, pull off those costly robes,
W:And hang them on yonder tree;
W:They are too costly and fine
W:To swim in the salt water sea, sea, sea,
W:To swim in the salt water sea."
W:
W:"Turn your face about
W:Into the leaves of the tree."
W:She picked him up in her arms so strong
W:And plunged home [sic] into the sea, sea, sea,
W:And plunged home into the sea.
W:
W:"Lie there, lie there, you false-hearted wretch,
W:Lie there, instead of me;
W:Six king's daughters you've drownded there,
W:And I the seventh was to be, be, be,
W:And I the seventh was to be."
W:
W:"Oh no, Polly, oh no, Polly,
W:All I want is help from thee,
W:And if I get to shore again,
W:I'm sure to marry thee, thee, thee,
W:I'm sure to marry thee."
W:
W:She jumped upon the bonny, bonny, brown,
W:And he the piebald bay,
W:And arrived at her father's house
W:Three hours before 't was day, day, day,
W:Three hours before 't was day.
W:
W:She put the gold into its place,
W:And the horses where its would be,
W:And arrived into her chamber fair,
W:Two hours before 't was day, day, day,
W:Two hours before 't was day.
W:
W:Then up rised that pretty parrot
W:. . . . . . . .
W:"Oh, what are you doing up
W:So long before't was day, day, day,
W:So long before 't was day?"
W:
W:"Set you down, get you down, Pretty Polly,
W:Don't tell no tales on me;
W:Your cage shall be made of hand-beaten gold,
W:The door out of ivory, -ry, -ry,
W:The door out of ivory."
W:
W:Then up rose that good old man,
W:Then up rose that good old man.
W:"What are you doing up
W:So long before 'tis day, day, day,
W:So long before 'tis day?"
W:
W:"There are three cats at my cage door,
W:Trying to do violence to me,
W:And I'm just call (-ing) Miss Polly
W:To drive those cats away, -way, -way,
W:To drive those cats away."