Six King’s Daughters- Dietz (WI-NY) c1891 REC
[From: Wisconsin Folksong Collection, 1937-1946; The Mills Music Library Digital Collections. Transcriptions and lyrics from the Helene Stratman-Thomas Collection. A recording is available online.
Tile supplied by collectors; opening stanzas missing. Charles Dietz was born about 1871 and learned this from his mother- I've attached a date of c. 1891 when he was twenty, although I'm sure he learned it earlier- It was recorded in 1946 when he 75, so it was hard to remember.
The online notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
Version A, “Six King’s Daughters,” sung by Charles Dietz, age 75, Monroe, 1946.
Mr. Dietz learned the ballad from his English mother who brought it to Wisconsin with her from New York state. He remarked that this and other ballads which he sang were not current songs in southern Wisconsin – “I cannot recall ever hearing them except in our family. The most certainly did not come to me from anywhere in the South, either directly or indirectly. They are purely, as I have said, either English or Scotch.”
Six Kings' Daughters- as sung by Charles Dietz, 1946, opening verse forgotten
Verse 1.
“Now mount you on the milk-white steed,
And I will mount the grey,
And we will ride to London town
And married we will be, be, be,
And married we will be.”
Verse 2.
She mounted on the milk-white steed,
And he the dappled grey.
He meant not to ride to London town,
But he rode to they came to the sea, sea, sea,
He rode till they came to the sea.
Verse 3.
“Mount off, mount off, my pretty Polly,
And tie your horse to a tree.
Mount off, mount off, my pretty Polly,
For I’ve something to say to thee, thee, thee,
For I’ve something to say to thee.”
Verse 4.
“For ‘twas six kings’ daughters I drowned here,
But you the seventh shall be, shall be,
And you the seventh shall be.”
Verse 5.
“Pull off, pull off those costly robes,
And lay them down by me.
They are too fine and too costly robes
To lay mouldering in the sea, the sea,
To lay mouldering in the sea.”
Verse 6.
She bade him turn him round-a-bout,
And face the green willow tree.
Then up jumped she so nimble and quick,
And plunged him into the sea, the sea,
And plunged him into the sea.
Verse 7.
“Lie there, lie there, you false-hearted knight,
Lie there instead of me,
For ‘tis six kings’ daughters you drowned here,
But the seventh has now drowned thee, thee, thee,
But the seventh has now drowned thee.”
Verse 8.
She mounted again the milk-white steed,
While she led the dappled grey.
She rode till she came to her father’s house,
Three long hours before it was day, day, day,
Three long hours before it was day.
Verse 9.
“Be still, be still, my pretty Polly,
And tell no tales of me.
Your cage shall be made of the fines of gold,
And shall hang on the green willow tree, tree, tree,
And shall hang on the green willow tree.”