Scarborough Fair- Gray (VT) 1931 Flanders C; Bronson 6
[The mysterious title, provided by Flanders, makes no sense and probably should be changed since "Scarborough Fair" is not part of the text. From Flander's Ancient Ballads; 1966; notes by Coffin follow.
R. Matteson Jr. 2014]
The Elfin Knight [Notes by Coffin]
(Child 2)
On page 227 of Ben Botkin's Folksay 1930, L. W. Chappell points out that "Riddles, perhaps even more than most types of traditional lore, have a way of 'staying put.' " It is not surprising then to find "The Elfin Knight," widespread, but relatively unvarying, in both Britain and America. The major collections in the two countries usually include it, and it has been the object of a good bit of study. Its popularity is undoubtedly due to its presence in broadside tradition; Child B is a black-letter text from Restoration times, and the ballad appears in American songsters and on American broadsheets just before the Mexican war, Phillips Barry, with the help of George Lyman Kittredge, has reviewed the printed tradition of the song in JAF, XXX,
284, and a bibliography of song-sheet texts is given there. For a start on further references, see Coffin, 30-31 (American); Dean-Smith, 65, and Belden, (English); and Greig and Keith, 1-2 (Scottish).
The relationship of this song and others like it to British courtship customs and vestigial fertility rites has never been thoroughly discussed. However, there is enough evidence to warrant research along these lines. As most scholars have recognized, the elfin lover of the British texts and child's title is nor native to the ballad and the riddler is a mortal lad. The situation is that of courtship, not unlike the one in the widespread Aarne-Thompson, Mt. 875. The most common refrain, as in Versions A-B and D-G, a corruption of "rosemary and thyme," preserves the plant symbolism of fidelity and fertility. It is these herbs that the girl such as Madeline in Keats's "The Eve of St. Agnes" put on either side of her bed to dream of her lover. Also, the riddle, as Charles Francis potter indicates on page 940 of The standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and, Legend, may be solved as a sort of sympathetic magic to insure the success of critical ventures like those into love and marriage. certainly the relation of riddling ro puberty and fertility rites is to be found everywhere.
The song is in Phillips Barry's British Ballads from Maine, 3.
The eight tunes included here fail into three main groups: 1) the versions sung by Underhill, Luce, Delorme, and possibly Perkins; 2) the versions of Gray and Daniels; and 3) those of Morton and Richards, whose relationship, if any, is quite distant. There is also a possibility that the Perkins version is related to that of Richards rather than group 1. Group 1 corresponds to BCI, group B, and so does group 2, although the two groups represent distant relatives in BCI. Strangely enough, our group 3 also corresponds ro some tunes in the large group B in the BC classification, whose integrity is upheld only by a large number of intermediate versions, and which consists of rather diverse materials. our groups 1 and 2 seem to have variants which are widespread in the United States, in conjunction with Child 2 texts. The Perkins, Morton, and Richards tunes have fewer analogues and are not so typically representative of the Anglo-American ballad style as the other tunes in this collection of Child 2.
C. Scarborough Fair. This folk song was sent to the Vermont Commission on Country Life by Miss Sylvia Bliss, Plainfield, Vermont, contributed by Ola Leonard Gray (Mrs. Ian W. Gray), East Calais, Vermont. Sung by Mrs. Gray, her mother, and her
grandmother. Published in Vermont Folk-Songs & Ballads, 1931. H. H. F., collector; 1931
Structure: A1 A2 A1 B C (2,2,2,2,2) ; Rhythm A; Contour: undulating; Scale: hexatonic; t.c. C. For mel. rel. see MF, 235, first half; GCM, 137, measure 1 and 2; possibly Sharp 1, 2, measure 7; and possibly RO1, 38.
"Oh, where are you going?" "I'm going to Lynn."
Fellow ma la cus lomely.
"Give my respects to the lady therein."
Ma-ke-ta-lo, ke-ta-lo, tam-pa-lo, tam-pa-lo,
Fellow ma la cus lomely.
(Follow pattern of first stanza for all)
"Tell her to buy me a yard of cloth
And make me a cambric shirt thereof.
"Tell her to make it with a gold ring;
Stitch it and sew it without a seam.
"Tell her to wash it in yonder well,
Where never a drop of water yet fell.
"Tell her to dry it on yonder thorn,
That never was rooted since Adam was born."
"Oh, where are you going?" "I'm going to Japan."
"Give my respects to this same young man!
"Tell him to buy me an acre of land
Between the salt sea and the sea sand.
"Tell him to plow it with a deer's horn,
Sow it all over with one peppercorn.
"Tell him to reap it with a sea fowl's quill,
Tan it all up into an egg shell.
"And when he has completed his work,
Come unto me and he shall have his shirt."
--------------------
X:6
T:Scarborough Fair
T:The Elfin Knight
B:Bronson
C:Trad
O:Flanders and Brown, 1931, pp. 194-96. Sung by Ola Leonard
O:(Mrs Ivan W.) Gray, East Calais, Vt., from family tradition.
O:Collected by Sylvia Bliss, Plainfield, Vt. From "Vermont
O:Folk Songs and Ballads", edited by Helen Hartness Flanders
O:and George Brown; Copyright 1931 by Arthur Wallace Peach.
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:G % Hexatonic ( -6) irregular
G | GGG Bdd | BAB d2 z |
w:Oh where are you go-ing? I'm go-ing to Lynn,
GGG B2 d | B3 d2 z | GGG Bdd | BAB d2 B |
w:Fel-low ma la cus lome-ly. Give my res-pects to the la-dy there-in, Ma
dcB dcB | AAA ABc | BAB d2 F | A3 G2 |]
w:ke ta lo, ke ta lo, tam pa lo, tam pa lo, Fel-low ma la cus lome-ly.
W:
W:"Oh where are you going?" "I'm going to Lynn,"
W:Fellow ma la cus lomely.
W:"Give my respects to the lady therein,
W:Ma-ke-ta-lo, ke-ta-lo, tam-pa-lo, tam-pa-lo,
W:Fellow ma la cus lomely.
W:
W:Tell her to buy me a yard of cloth,
W:And make me a cambric shirt thereof.
W:
W:Tell her to make it with a gold ring,
W:Stitch it and sew it without a seam.
W:
W:Tell her to wash it in yonder well,
W:Where never a drop of water yet fell.
W:
W:Tell her to dry it on yonder thorn,
W:That never was rooted since Adam was born.
W:
W:"Oh where are you going?" "I'm going to Japan,
W:Give my respects to this same young man.
W:
W:Tell him to buy me an acre of land,
W:Between the salt sea and the sea sand.
W:
W:Tell him to plow it with a deer's horn,
W:Sow it all over with one peppercorn.
W:
W:Tell him to reap it with a sea fowl's quill,
W:Tan it all up into an eggshell.
W:
W:And when he has completed his work,
W:Come onto me and he shall have his shirt.