The Seventh King's Daughter- Simpkins (NC) pre1900 Henneman; Brown C
[The title is probably the collectors title and not the informants. From Brown Collection of NC Folklore Vol. 2; There are 7 versions of text A-G plus six additional versions with music in Vol. 4.
I am assuming the J.B. Henneman, from whose collection this is taken, is John Bell Henneman (1864- 1908), a native of South Carolina, moved from the University of Tennessee to the University of the South in 1900 and became editor of Sewanee Review, which had been founded in 1892. This information needs corroboration. I've guesstimated a date of pre1900.
From: Pretty Polly preserves ancient messages by Rob Neufeld
When Elizabeth Simpkins of Vanceboro sang the song for folklorist John B. Henneman around 1906, it was a maiden named Covanne who couldn’t say “No”; and she was entranced not by a magical elf-knight as in Europe, but by a regular fellow named William.
R. Matteson 2011; 2014]
OLDER BALLADS MOSTLY BRITISH
Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight (Child 4)
For the history of this ballad in many lands and tongues, see Child's headnote in English and Scottish Popular Ballads and Grundtvig's in Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, and for its occurrence since Child's time in the British Isles and in America, see BSM 5-6 — and add to the references there given Arkansas (OFS I 47), Florida (FSF 237-41), and Missouri (OFS I 45-6). It is a favorite among the ballad singers of North Carolina; Mrs. Sutton reports that it was sung by Mrs. Hall in Buncombe county, by Mrs. Gordon in Henderson county, by Mrs. Brown in Avery county, and others. Mrs. Steely records three texts, with tunes, found in the Ebenezer community in Wake county. The name of the heroine varies. Most often it is Polly. The names Clovanne (in version C) and Cold Rain (in version D) may be assumed to derive from the May Colvin of British broadside versions. The villain, if named at all — as generally he is not in the North Carolina versions — is William. All three of the scenes that make up the story, the elopement, the drowning, the dialogue with the parrot, are present in all the North Carolina versions, even the much reduced F. Versions D, E, and G show the shift of grammatical person from the first person to the third which is so frequent in traditional balladry.
C. 'The Seventh King's Daughter.' This appears twice among the typescripts of the Collection, in one of the copies ascribed to the J. B. Henneman collection with a note saying that it was collected from a Mrs. Simpkins (the source of Henneman's North Carolina texts), in the other attributed directly to Mrs. Simpkins without saying who secured it but noting that Mrs. Simpkins thought "there was an introductory stanza or more which she could not remember." We print the second form, with notation of the differences — few and slight — between the two. The "Wessymore land" of stanzas 5 and 10 is presumably a corruption of "Westmoreland." The spelling "Covanne" in stanza 4 is doubtless merely a slip; elsewhere in this copy and throughout in the other copy the name is spelled "Clovanne." The third line of stanza 1 is inconsistent with the conclusion.
1 He followed her up, he followed her down,
He followed her to where she stayed.
She hadn't no father to bid him begone,
No time to say him nay.
2 'Go get it's all of your mother's gold,
And some of your father's fee,
And you will have a steed for to ride upon,
The best of thirty and three.'
3 Then she mounted her milk-white steed
And he on his dapple* grey.
They rode down to the wide water
Four hours before it was day.
4 'Come get you down, my pretty Covanne,
Come get you down,' says he;
'For I have drowned six king's daughters;
The seventh you shall be.'
5 'Oh, if you have drowned the six king's daughters,
Oh, why should you drown me,
When you promised to carry me to the Wessymore land
And marry along with me?'
6. 'Oh, pull off that satin silk gown
And spread it on yonder shore.
It is too rich and over costlie
To rot in the salt sea sound.'
7. 'Well, turn your face to the wide waters,
Your back to the leaves of the tree;
It never became a man like you
A naked woman to see.'
8. He turned his face to the wide waters,
His back to the leaves of the tree.
She picked him up in her arms so strong,
She hove him in the sea.
9. 'Come help me out, my pretty Clovanne,
Come help me out,' says he,
'And I'll double those things three times over
That ever I've told unto thee.'
10. 'Lie there, lie there, thou false-hearted William,
Lie there instead of me;
For you promised to carry me to the Wessymore lands
And married we would be.'
11. 'Come help me out, my pretty Clovanne,
Come help me out,' says he.
I will carry you to the Wessymore lands
And married we will be.'
12. 'Lie there, lie there, you false-hearted William,
Lie there instead of me.
You said that you had drowned the six king's daughters;
The seventh you shall be.'
13. Then she mounted the milk-white steed
And drew up her dapple grey;
She rode home to her father's gate
Two hours before it was day.
14. The parrot to her cage window,
The parrot there did stay.
She called unto her pretty Clovanne,
'What makes you a-stirring so long before day?'
15. 'Oh, hush, oh, hush, my pretty parrot,
Don't tell no tales on me.
And you shall have a cage of the finest gold,
The finest you ever did see.'
16. Her father into his bed chamber
It is called- where he did lay.
He called unto the pretty parrot,
'Wliar makes you a-talking so long before day?'
17. 'The cat has come to my cage window
My innocent life to betray;
I called upon my pretty Clovanne,
"Come drive this cat away.'
[* The other copy has here "topsi."]