Seventh Kings' Daughter- King (SC) 1913 Smith A
[From Reed Smith's South Carolina Ballads, 1928 version A; Smith notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
LADY ISABEL AND THE ELF KNIGHT
(Child, No. 4)
AloNc with "Lord. Randal," "Lord Thomas and Fair Elinor," "Lord Lovel," "Bonny Barbara Allen," and "The Hangman's Tree," this is one of the most widely distributed ballads in America. For American variants and references, see the head-note to this ballad in Cox, p. 3. Campbell and Sharp give five variants and five tunes; and Cox, nine variints and one tune.
The head-note in Kittredge speaks thus of its prevalence in in Europe "Of all the ballads, this has perhaps obtained the widest circulation. It is nearly as well known to the southern as to the northern nations of Europe. It has an extraordinary currency in Poland. The Germans, High and Low, and the Scandinavians, preserve it, in a full and evidently ancient form, even in the tradition of this generation." In some versions (as Child, A and B, the supernatural character of the Elf Knight is retained, in others it is lost completely, and he has become merely "False sir John'; or, as in our variant B, "Young Jimmie."
A. [Seventh Kings' Daughter] Communicated by mrs. John B. King of Williamston, S.C., in 1913 Mrs. King says, "She learned it from her father when she qas a small girl. It is the only song (I think she said) she ever heard her father sing."
1. She mounted on the bonny, bonny bright,
And him on the dapple gray.
They rid the length of a long summer's night,
Three hours before day, day,
Three hours before day.
2. "O light here, my pretty miss,
O light here, my pretty miss, with me;
For it's the six King's daughters I have drowned,
And the seventh you shall be, be
And the seventh that you shall be.
3. "O pull off your silk and satin,
O pull off your silk," says he;
"For it's too fine and costly for to rot
In the salt-water sea, sea,
For to rot in the salt-water sea."
4 "O whirl all around and around and about.
With your face to the willow tree;
For it is a shame and scandal to see
A naked woman as me, me,
A naked woman as me."
5. He whirled all around. and around and about,
And his face to the willow tree;
She caught him by the small o' the back
And tripped him in the salt-water sea, sea,
And she tripped him in the salt-water sea.
6. "O catch me by your lily-white hands,
And help me out of here;
And all the promises I've made to you
I'll double on the thirty-three, three,
I'll double on the thirty-three."
7. "Lie there, lie there, you old villain,
There where you wanted me.
Lie there my false-hearted love,
There where you wanted me, me,
There where you wanted me."
8. She mounted on the bonny, bonny bright,
And she led the dapple gray.
She rid the length of a long summer's night
Three hours before day, day,
Three hours before day.
9. "O hold your tongue little parrot,
Don't tell no tales on me;
I'll kivver [1] your cage in gold
And your door in ivoree, ree,
And your door in ivoree."
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