Six Kings' Daughters; Contributed by Mrs. Emma Glasscock of Colfax, WV.
[Taken from: Ballads and Folksongs from West Virginia by Ruth Ann Musick; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 70, No. 277 (Jul. - Sep., 1957), pp. 247-261.
R. Matteson 2014]
BALLADS AND FOLKSONGS
FROM WEST VIRGINIA
BY RUTH ANN MUSICK
ALTHOUGH I have wandered through the West Virginia hills with a tape recorder, my chief sources of material have been students in my folk literature classes and the response to a weekly newspaper column on folklore which I conducted for six years. The collection thus established includes many songs dealing with the Civil War, local events, the temperance movement, and religion, as well as the variants of Child ballads and other songs of English origin from which the following selection has been made.[1]
1. "Six Kings' Daughters" (Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight, Child 4) [2]
1.1. Contributed by Mrs. Emma Glasscock of Colfax, who grew up in Wetzel County and there learned the ballad from her half-sister (see Ex. 1 of music)
(1) "Strip off, strip off that snowy white gown;
Strip off, strip off," says he;
"For it's too nice and cost-i-ly
To rot in the bottom of the sea, sea, sea;
To rot in the bottom of the sea."
(2) He turned his back to the leaves of the tree;
He turned his back on to me;
I gave him a push and I pushed him in.
"Lie there in the bottom of the sea, sea, sea;
Lie there in the bottom of the sea."