US & Canada Versions: Child 40- Queen of Elfan's Nourice
[Whether this is a US version because it was collected in Wisconsin may be debated. The informant a "Mrs. McLeod of Dumfries, Scotland," was on a "visit to her relatives at Lake Mills, Wisconsin." The following text and notes are from the JAFL 1907.
There are no other extant US or Canadian versions.
R. Matteson 2014]
Some New Ballad Variants
by Arthur Beatty; University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.
Journal of American Folk-Lore; 1907.
The four ballad variants here printed for the first time were collected in the month of December, 1906, from Mrs. McLeod of Dumfries, Scotland, when she was on a visit to her relatives at Lake Mills, Wisconsin. The versions are undoubtedly traditional, as the reciter could not read or write, nor could her parents before her. She said that she had learned the ballads from her parents, but that she was not always sure of the words in particular cases.
All four are readily classified as variants of ballads already printed in F. J. Child's " English and Scottish Popular Ballads." I is a new version of Child, No. 26 ("The Three Ravens," and "The Twa Corbies"); II is Child, No. 27 ("The Whummil Bore"); III is the first intelligible version known to me of Child, No. 40 ("The Queen of Elfan's Nourice"); and IV is a variant of Child, No. 181 ("The Bonny Earl of Murray").
The collector of these variants, Mr. Claude H. Eldred, an undergraduate of the University of Wisconsin, deserves great praise for the pains and tact necessary for the accomplishment of his task in so thorough a manner.
Child, No. 40.
I heard a bonnie cow low, cow low, cow low,
I heard a bonnie cow low,
Over the lea,
An' it was an elf call, elf call, elf call,
An' it was an elf call,
Calling unto me.
An' the little elf man, elf man, elf man,
An' the little elf man
Said unto me:
"Come, nurse an' elf child, elf child, elf child,
Come an' nurse an elf child,
Down 'neath the sea."
Then I fell a-moaning, a-moaning, a-moaning,
Then I fell a-moaning,
Down where he could see.
"What do you moan for, moan for, moan for,
What do you moan for?"
Elf -king said to me;
"Is it for your breakfast, breakfast, breakfast,
Is it for your breakfast,
Or for a fee?"
" 'T is not for my breakfast, breakfast, breakfast,
'T is not for my breakfast,
Nor an' for a fee,
" 'T is for my bonnie lad, bonnie lad, bonnie lad,
'T is for my bonnie lad
That I never more shall see."