Pretty Polly- old lady (VA) 1920 Bryson; Davis P
[From Davis, "Traditional Ballads of Virginia",I929, p. 550 (version P); text, pp. 83-84. Davis' notes follow.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
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, '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 an old lady in Lee County, Va., November 3, 1920. Collected by Olive Flora Bryson.
"Hush, hush, my pretty Polly dear,
Don't tell any tales on me.
Your cage shall be made of yellow beaten gold
And hung in a willow tree, -e, -e,
And hung in a willow tree."
"She rode away on a milk-white steed
And led the dapple gray
. . . . . . . . .
Three hours before break of day."
The father hears her go out and questions the parrot, who replies:
"A bold cat came to my cage door
And threatened to worry me (or, threatened war with me)
And I was calling to my pretty Polly dear
To drive the cat away, away,
To drive the cat away."
They come to a deep pool, the knight secures her jewels and sings:
. . . . . . .
. . . . . .
"Six king's daughters I've drownded here
And the seventh one you shall be, -e,-e,
And the seventh one you shall be."
There is a struggle, the maid frees herself and
throws the knight into thc pool, then sings:
"Lie there, lie there, you false young man,
. . . . . . . .
For six king's daughters you've drownded here
But the seventh one's drownded you, -u, -u,
But the seventh one's drownded you."
------------------
X:104
T:Pretty Polly
T:Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
C:Trad
B:Bronson
O:Davis, "Traditional Ballads of Virginia",I929, p. 550(P); text, pp. 83-84.
O:Sung by an old lady in Lee County, Va., November 3, T920. Collected by Olive
O:Flora Bryson.
N:With this variant, cf. "Pretty Peggy O" (Sharp and Karpeles, 1932,
N:II, p. 59(B), a version of the Scottish "Lass o' Fyvie").
M:2/4
L:1/8
K:Am % but modulating to Ddor on the last line
G | AA eA | cB HA G | AA dB |
w:
A3 G | AA/A/ eA | cB/G/ HF B |
w:
AA/A/ GE | DE G B | AA/A/ GE | D3 |]
w:
W:
W:"Hush, hush, my pretty Polly dear,
W:Don't tell any tales on me.
W:Your cage shall be made of yellow beaten gold
W:And hung in a willow tree, -e, -e,
W:And hung in a willow tree."
W:
W:"She rode away on a milk-white steed
W:And led the dapple gray
W:. . . . . . . . .
W:Three hours before break of day."
W:
W:The father hears her go out and questions the
W:parrot, who replies:
W:
W:"A bold cat came to my cage door
W:And threatened to worry me (or, threatened war with me)
W:And I was calling to my pretty Polly dear
W:To drive the cat away, away,
W:To drive the cat away."
W:
W:They come to a deep pool, the knight secures
W:her jewels and sings:
W:
W:. . . . . . .
W:. . . . . .
W:"Six king's daughters I've drownded here
W:And the seventh one you shall be, -e,-e,
W:And the seventh one you shall be."
W:
W:There is a struggle, thc maid frees herself and
W:throws the knight into thc pool, then sings:
W:
W:"Lie there, lie there, you false young man,
W:. . . . . . . .
W:For six king's daughters you've drownded here
W:But the seventh one's drownded you, -u, -u,
W:But the seventh one's drownded you."