Pretty Polly- Thornton (FL) pre1937 Morris B
[From Folksongs of Florida; Morris, 1950- in the English and Scottish Songs section. Morris' notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
LADY ISABEL AND THE ELF KNIGHT
(Child, No. 4)
In his headnote to this ballad Chiid has pointed out that it is one of the most widely disseminated ballads. it persists throughout the southern and the northern nations of Europe, having extraordinary currency in Poland, in Germany, and in Scandinavia. Belden, pp. 5-6, adds that it is known in France as the bailad of Renaud, the killer of ladies. Grundvig has made a study of its sociological import and has attempted to plot its dissimination. The motif of the talking and helpful bird is one of the oldest folktale motifs, as the Aarne-Thompson Motif Index shows. Variant C, not included here, assigns the following motive
for the parrot's speaking before day:
There's a cat around my cage door,
A-trving to viper me.
The Florida Variant A prominently retains the modesty motif. The "false-hearted villain" of the Child version becomes "the dirty dog" in Variant A of the Florida collection. "To turn the stitch" on one is an interesting variation of "to turn the tables."
For references to English broadside ballads and recent reports of the ballad in the English folksong tradition and for a host of American references, the headnote to the Belden variants. pp. 5-6, will furnish a "god's plenty." For a few references which have appearer since the publication of the Missouri collection, see Cox, BMWV, pp. 1-5: Brewster, pp. 31-41; Davis, Folksongs, 4-5 and Randolph, I, 4I-47.
B. (Archive 990-81) "Pretty Polly." Recorded in 1937 from the singing of Mrs. W. B. Thornton, West Palm Beach. She learned it from Mr. J. L. Allison, Live Oak, a native Floridian who is now 80 years old, and who this song from friends in the Suwannee River region many years ago.
"O rise you up my pretty Polly,
And go along with me;
We'll go away to some broad waters
Some hours before it comes day.
"Go rob your father of his gold,
Likewise your mother's fees,
And take two horses out of the stable,
Where there stand thirty and three."
She bounced upon the milk-white steed,
And he the dapple-gray;
And they stole away to some broad waters,
Some hours before it came day.
"O, light you down, my pretty Polly,
O, light you down," said he,
"This year I've drowned six king's daughters,
The seventh one you shall be.
"Pull off, pull off, that fine silk gown,
And put it into my hand,
It is too costly and too fine
To rot in the salt sea sand."
He turned his back along the sea,
And then turned to the tree.
She picked him up in her strong arms
And throwed him into the sea.
"O, hold my hand, my pretty Polly,
O, hold my hand," said he;
"And every promise that I have made
I'll double it thirty times three."
"Lie there, lie there, you false-hearted villain,
Lie there, lie there," said she;
"For there you have drowned six king's daughters,
The seventh one you shall be."
She bounced upon the milk-white steed
And led the dapple-gray,
She rode home to her father's bars,[1]
Two hours before it came day.
She put away her father's gold,
Likewise her mother's fees;
She put the two horses into the stable,
Where there stood thirty and three.
Up spake, up spake, the pretty parrot,
And to Miss Polly said,
"O, what is the matter, my pretty Polly,
You stir before it comes day?"
"O, hold your tongue, my pretty parrot,
O, hold your tongue," said she;
"Your cage shall be made with the gilded gold,
Instead of the bare oak tree."
Up spake, up spake, the old, old man,
And to the parrot said,
"O, what is the matter, my pretty parrot,
You talk before it comes day?"
"There's a cat that comes to my cage door,
To wrestle awhile with me;
I called to my pretty Polly,
To drive the cat away."
1. gate