The Cambric Shirt- Luce (VT) c.1874 Flanders F; Bronson 45
[The title was provided in Flanders, Ancient Ballads; 1966; notes by Coffin follow. The informant, Horatio Luce, was born c. 1864 (1940 census) and he got the ballad from his father born in 1839. I've guesstimated a date of 1874 when the informant was 10 years old- the ballad is surely older through his father.
R. Matteson Jr. 2014]
The Elfin Knight [Notes by Coffin]
(Child 2)
On page 227 of Ben Botkin's Folksay 1930, L. W. Chappell points out that "Riddles, perhaps even more than most types of traditional lore, have a way of 'staying put.' " It is not surprising then to find "The Elfin Knight," widespread, but relatively unvarying, in both Britain and America. The major collections in the two countries usually include it, and it has been the object of a good bit of study. Its popularity is undoubtedly due to its presence in broadside tradition; Child B is a black-letter text from Restoration times, and the ballad appears in American songsters and on American broadsheets just before the Mexican war, Phillips Barry, with the help of George Lyman Kittredge, has reviewed the printed tradition of the song in JAF, XXX, 284, and a bibliography of song-sheet texts is given there. For a start on further references, see Coffin, 30-31 (American); Dean-Smith, 65, and Belden, (English); and Greig and Keith, 1-2 (Scottish).
The relationship of this song and others like it to British courtship customs and vestigial fertility rites has never been thoroughly discussed. However, there is enough evidence to warrant research along these lines. As most scholars have recognized, the elfin lover of the British texts and child's title is nor native to the ballad and the riddler is a mortal lad. The situation is that of courtship, not unlike the one in the widespread Aarne-Thompson, Mt. 875. The most common refrain, as in Versions A-B and D-G, a corruption of "rosemary and thyme," preserves the plant symbolism of fidelity and fertility. It is these herbs that the girl such as Madeline in Keats's "The Eve of St. Agnes" put on either side of her bed to dream of her lover. Also, the riddle, as Charles Francis potter indicates on page 940 of The standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and, Legend, may be solved as a sort of sympathetic magic to insure the success of critical ventures like those into love and marriage. certainly the relation of riddling to puberty and fertility rites is to be found everywhere.
The song is in Phillips Barry's British Ballads from Maine, 3.
The eight tunes included here fail into three main groups: 1) the versions sung by Underhill, Luce, Delorme, and possibly Perkins; 2) the versions of Gray and Daniels; and 3) those of Morton and Richards, whose relationship, if any, is quite distant. There is also a possibility that the Perkins version is related to that of Richards rather than group 1. Group 1 corresponds to BCI, group B, and so does group 2, although the two groups represent distant relatives in BCI. Strangely enough, our group 3 also corresponds to some tunes in the large group B in the BC classification, whose integrity is upheld only by a large number of intermediate versions, and which consists of rather diverse materials. our groups 1 and 2 seem to have variants which are widespread in the United States, in conjunction with Child 2 texts. The Perkins, Morton, and Richards tunes have fewer analogues and are not so typically representative of the Anglo-American ballad style as the other tunes in this collection of Child 2.
F. The Cambric Shirt. Recorded from the singing of Horatio Luce of South Pamfret, Vermont, as learned from his father, Edwin A. Luce (b. 1839), whose years were spent partially in Barnard, partially in Bridgewater, Vermont. Printed in A Garland of Green Mountain Song, 58. H. H. F., Collector; October 12, 1931
Structure: A B C D (2, 2, 2, 2); Rhythm B; Contour: descending; Scale: hexatonic, tending toward major; t.c. C. For mel. rel. see BES, T0(D); an Indiana version, L. C. record 1736A; possibly FCB4, 3(B); and possibly EO, 3.
The Cambric Shirt
As I walked out in a shady grove,
Every rose grows pretty in time,
'Twas there I spied a lovely fair maid
And once she was a true lover of mine.
"Say, will you make me a cambric shirt, etc.,
Without any stitches or needlework?
Then you shall be a true lover of mine.
"Say, will you wash it out in a dry Hell, etc.,
Where water never stood nor rain never fell?
Then you shall be a true lover of mine.
"Sal, will you hang it out on a green thorn, etc.,
That never bore leaves since Adam was born?
Then you shall be a true lover of mine."
"Now you have asked me questions three, etc.,
Then answer these questions for me.
Then you shall be a true lover of mine.
"Sal, will you buy me an acre of land, etc.,
Between the salt water and the sea sand?
Then, etc
"Say, will you plow it up with a hog's horn, etc.,
And sow it all down with one peppercorn?
Then, etc
"Say, will you harrow it with a scroll (scrawl), etc.,
And reap it with a shoemaker's awl?
Then, etc
"Say, will you draw it in on a shoe sole, etc.,
And house it all up within a mouse hole?
Then, etc.
"Say, will you thresh it out with a goose quill, etc.,
And winnow it up within an egg shell?
Then, etc.
"And when you've done and finished your work, etc.
Then call upon me for your cambric shirt,
Then you shall be a true lover of mine."
-----------------
Bronson No. 45 [ABCNotation]
T:The Cambric Shirt
T:The Elfin Knight
B:Bronson
C:Trad
O:Flanders, I934, pp. 58-59. Sung by H. Luce; learned from
O:E. A. Luce, Vermont. From A Garland of Green Mountain Song,
O:edited by Helen Hartness Flanders; copyright I934 by Helen
O:Hartness Flanders.
N:Child 2
M:9/8
L:1/8
K:C % Hexatonic ( -2) irregular
c3 cAc | [M:6/8] Gcc cAc | G3 cAc |
w:As I* walked out in a sha-*dy grove, Eve-*ry
G2 G GAB | [M:9/8] c3-c2 c C2 C | [M:6/8] G2 G AGF |
w:rose grows mer-ry in time* Twas there I spied a love-ly fair
F2 G A2 F | FAG ECE | [M:9/8] C3 |]
w:maid And once she was a true lov-er of mine.
W:
W:As I walked out in a shady grove,
W:Every rose grows merry in time,
W:Twas there I spied a lovely fair maid
W:And once she was a true lover of mine.
W:
W:"Say, will you make me a cambric shirt, etc.
W:Without any stitches or needlework
W:Then you shall oe a true lover of mine?
W:
W:"Say, will you wash it out in a dry well, etc.
W:Where water never stood nor rain never fell
W:Then you shall be a true lover of mine?
W:
W:"Say, will you hang it out on a green thorn, etc.
W:That never bore leaves since Adam was born
W:Then, etc." ~
W:
W:"Now you have asked me questions three, etc.
W:Then answer these questions for me.
W:Then, etc.
W:
W:"Say will you buy me an acre of land, etc.
W:Between the salt water and the sea sand
W:Then, etc.
W:
W:"Say will you plow it up with a hog's horn, etc.
W:And sow it all down with one peppercorn?
W:Then, etc.
W:
W:"Say will you harrow it with a scroll (scrawl), etc.
W:And reap it with a shoemaker's awl,
W:Then, etc.
W:
W:"Say will you draw it in on a shoe sole, etc.
W:And house it all up within a mouse hole?
W:Then, etc.
W:
W:"Say will you thresh it out with a goose quill, etc.
W:And winnow it up within an egg shell?
W:Then, etc.
W:
W:"And when you've done and finished your work, etc.
W:Then call upon me for your cambric shirt,
W:Then you shall be a true lover of mine."