Seven King's Daughters- Roop (VA) 1922 Davis F
[From Davis, Traditional Ballads of Virginia; 1929. His notes follow.
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.
Seven King's Daughters- Sung by Miss Odell Roop, Vinton, Va., September 11, 1922. Collected by Alfreda M. Peel.
There was a man out in the land,
He courted a maiden fair;
He promised to take her to northern lands,
There the marriage should be.
"Go get some of your father's gold,
Some of your mother's fee;
Get two of the horses that stand in the stalls,
That stand by forty and three.
"Dismount, dismount your milky steed
And deliver it unto me;
For six king's daughters have I drowned,
And the seventh one you shall be.
"Pull off, pull off your silky robe
And deliver it unto me;
For I think it is too costly
To roll in the deep blue sea."
"If I must pull off my silky robe,
Please turn your back on me;
For I think it's not nice, you know,
A naked maiden to see."
He turned his back all unto her;
She wept most bitterly;
She grabbed him round his thin small waist
And tumbled him into the sea.
He waved on high, he waved on low,
He waved till he came to her (side?):
"Take hold of my hand, my pretty Pauline,
And you shall be my bride."
-----------------
X:23
T:The Seven King's Daughters
T:Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
C:Trad
B:Bronson
O:Davis, "Traditional Ballads of Virginia", 1929'p. 550(F);
O:text, pp. 7I-72. Sung by Miss Odell Roop, Vinton, Va., September II,
O:I922. Collected by Alfreda M. Peel.
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:Gmix
B | d2 d d2 d | B2 A G2 d |
w:There was a man out in the land, He
eee c2 e | [M:3/8] Hd2 d | [M:6/8] ggg BAB |
w:court-ed a maid-en fair; He prom-ised to take her to
[M:9/8] cBc d3 B2 d | [M:6/8] d2 c B2 A | G3-G2 |]
w:north_ern lands, There the marr_iage should be.
W:
W:There was a man out in the land,
W:He courted a maiden fair;
W:He promised to take her to northern lands,
W:There the marriage should be.
W:
W:"Go get some of your father's gold,
W:Some of your mother's fee;
W:Get two of the horses that stand in the stalls,
W:That stand by forty and three.
W:
W:"Dismount, dismount your milky steed
W:And deliver it unto me;
W:For six king's daughters have I drowned,
W:And the seventh one you shall be.
W:
W:"Pull off, pull off your silky robe
W:And deliver it unto me;
W:For I think it is too costly
W:To roll in the deep blue sea."
W:
W:"If I must pull off my silky robe,
W:Please turn your back on me;
W:For I think it's not nice, you know,
W:A naked maiden to see."
W:
W:He turned his back all unto her;
W:She wept most bitterly;
W:She grabbed him round his thin small waist
W:And tumbled him into the sea.
W:
W:He waved on high, he waved on low,
W:He waved till he came to her (side?):
W:"Take hold of my hand, my pretty Pauline,
W:And you shall be my bride."