The False Knight- Secured by H. M. Belden in 1916 from Miss J. D. Johns of St. Charles, Missouri.
[The False Knight- Compare Child, No. 3. Secured by H. M. Belden in 1916 from Miss J. D. Johns of St. Charles, Missouri. She learned it from her uncle, Mr. Douglas Voss Martin, who learned it when a boy in Virginia from his grandmother, a Scotchwoman' See Kittredge, "Ballads and Songs," Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. 30, p. 286. 1917.
Edmunds, 1985: Another Scots-derived text comes from Virginia (viii) via Miss J. D. Johns, whose uncle came from Scotland, and is rather different, having the unusual prose conclusion, 'And he pitched him in the well and went on to school'. The knight has acquired the name 'Munro', perhaps a mishearing of the phrase 'on the road', which may also owe something to the lovesong 'Young Munro'. It has the command by the knight to give his dog a share of food, which is elsewhere found only in Alan Kelly's text (xxix) from the 'Irish' group, but otherwise the questions follow the general pattern of the Scottish tradition and there are no religious overtones.
R. Matteson 2014]
THE FALSE KNIGHT
"Where are you going?" said the false knight, fake knight,
"Where are you going?" said the false knight Munro. [1]
"Well," said the little boy, "I'm going to school,
But I'll stand to my book al-so."
"What you got in your basket?" said the false knight, false knight,
"What you got in your basket?" said the false knight Munro.
"Well," said the little boy, "my breakfast and my dinner,
But I'll stand to my book al-so."
"Give my dog some," said the false knight Munro.
"Give my dog some," said false knight Munro.
"Well," said the little boy, "I won't give him none,
But I'll stand to my book al-so."
"Then I'll pitch you in the well," said the false knight Munro,
"Then I'll pitch you in the well," said the false knight Munro.
"Well," said the little boy, "I'll pitch you in first,
But I'll stand to my book al-so."
And he pitched him in the well and went on to school.
1. Munro= on the road.