Six King's Daughters- Boone (NC) 1918 Sharp MS
[My title. From Bronson No. 119 where it's titled by Bronson, Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight; Sharp MSS., 4729/3296. Sharp probably didn't know what to do with this mixture of texts from different songs which form a version of Child 4. Therefore it (perhaps by Karpeles on his behalf- since it was published after his death in 1924) was excluded from the EFSSA 1932 edition.
R. Matteson 2014]
[Six King's Daughters] (Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight)- Sung by Mrs. Sina Boone, Shoal Creek, Burnsville, N.C., October 1, 1918.
Remember, dear, when your heart was mine, [1]
When your arms was across my breast,
You made me believe by the faults of men,
The sun it rose in the west, west, west,
The sun it rose in the West.
Remember the promise that you made to me,
It was between thirty and three,
You promised that you'd take me to old Ingel, [2]
And there you'd be my bride.
If ever I made such a promise as that,
It was more than I intended to do
For one that was so easily found,
So easily found as you.
Hush up, hush up, my pretty crowing chicken, [3]
Don't crow till it comes day,
For your cage shall be made of the yellow beaten gold,
And your wings of the silver so gay.
Hush up, hush up, my pretty Polly parrot,
Don't tell no taies on me,
For your cage shall be made of the yellow beaten gold
And hung in the weeping-willow tree.
Turn round, turn round, mY pretty true love,
With your face to the leaves on the trees.
She picked him up so manfully strong
And laid him into the sea.
Lie there, lie there, my pretty true love,
Lie there instead of me,
For the six king's daughters you've drownded there,
And the seventh son you shall be.
1. Stanza 1 is a floating verse, not part of this ballad- resembles a song from Lily May Ledford that I learned in Kentucky. The third line was probably "false young man," not "faults of men." Sharp categorized the song as "False Young Man" in EFFSA.
2. England
3. Resembles Presnell/Proffitt version of Grey Cock (Child 248):
"My pretty little chicken, my pretty crowin' chicken,
Say, don't you crow before day.