False Knight Upon the Road- US & Canada Versions
[This ballad is not so much about riddles as it is about the symbolism of good or innocence (the child) versus evil (the devil or false knight). The homiletic (moral and religious) message is clear, that the devil must be confronted and overcome. The child, who is seven (the age of moral judgement), is going to school and when confronted by the devil on the road, rebukes him through a series of seemingly innocent questions and answers. And still he stood!
Below is list of all the extant traditional US and Canada version in approximate chronological order. The last version, False, False Fly, is not traditional but included to show the transition from 1870 to 2000. The individual ballad texts are attached on the left hand column (click to open) or simply click on title.
R. Matteson 2011, revised 2014]
1) [Fol Fly on the Road]- (ME) pre1870 Barry JAFL [The False Knight Upon the Road]--My title, collected Phillips Barry; Sung before 1870, in Fort Kent, Me., by a French girl, recollected by M. L. F., Portland, Me., Oct. 16, 1907. Published in The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 24, No. 93 (Jul. - Sep., 1911), pp. 344-349. The one verse text follows:
I. THE FALSE KNIGHT UPON THE ROAD (Child, 3) Sung before 1870, in Fort Kent, Me., by a French girl who could speak very little English, as learned from an illiterate Irish family. From "The False Knight upon the Road," A, Folk-Songs of the North Atlantic States recollected by M. L. F., Portland, Me., Oct. 16, 1907.
1. "What have you in your bottle, my dear little lad?"
Quo the fol fol Fly on the road,
"I have some milk for myself for to drink!"
Said the child, who was seven years old.
In this text the words "fol fol Fly" are very likely corrupted from "foul, foul Fiend;" that is, the Devil. Fragmentary as it is, the text is interesting as attesting the survival, in America, of a ballad supposed to be long extinct, and, furthermore, as retaining a form of the theme more primitive than that of Motherwell's version.
2) False Knicht on the Road- McPherson (OK) c1877--From Moore's Ballads and Folksong of the Southwest; 1964, English and Scottish Ballads. According to the Moores, "Born in Inverness, Scotland, McPherson moved to Ohio in 1867 when he was six years old and he came to Tulsa in 1895." I've set a date of 1877 when he was 16 years old but surely he learned this earlier and through his parents (relatives) it would go back to the 1830s in Scotland-- so this is an old version!
3) False Knicht and the Wee Boy- McGill (NB) pre1911--From British Ballads From Maine; Barry, Eckstrom and Smyth 1929; sent in by Mrs. James McGill of Chamcook, New Brunswick, who was originally from Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland where she learned songs and ballads from her grandmother and family. She moved to New Brunswick about 1911 and still sang in Scots diction. She learned this ballad in Galloway.
4) The False Knight- Johns (MO-VA) pre1916 Belden--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.
5) False Knight on the Road- Gentry (NC) 1916 Sharp B--Sung by Mrs. Jane Gentry, from Madison County, NC, who was one of Cecil Sharp's main informants. He collected 70 songs and ballads from her. In a 1947 recording Her daughter, Maud Long, sang her mother's version but with additional verses. See also that version.
6) False Knight Upon the Road- Coates (TN) 1916 Sharp A-- On September 1, 1916 Cecil Sharp and his secretary, Maud Karpeles collected The False Knight from Mrs. Coates in the Flag Pond, Tennessee area just over the State line from Madison Counties in North Carolina.
7) The False Knight on the Road- Finchum (VA) 1918 Davis-- Sung by Mrs. Sarah Finchum, Elkton, Va., November 23, 1918. Collected by Martha M. Davis, and published in Traditional Ballads of Virginia 1929, by Kyle Davis Jr.
8) False Knight on the Road- Sullivan (VT) 1932 Flanders-- From Ballads Migrant in New England, Flanders; Collected from Mrs. E.M. Sullivan, Springfield, VT 1932; Also in Flander's Ancient Ballads.
9) False Knight on the Road- Henneberry (NS) 1932--Sung by Mr. Faulkner completed by Ben Henneberry; Devil's Island, Nova Scotia; published in 1932 in Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia by Helen Creighton. An additional verse was added in 1950. This version uses stanzas from Child No. 1 Riddles Widely Expounded and has an added "Hi diddle diddle dum" chorus. Ben Henneberry was one of the singer Helen Creighton began collecting in the late 1920s until Ben's death in 1951. Faulkner and Henneberry's children; Edmund Henneberry with Kenneth Faulkner on fiddle, also recorded the family version in 1956 on the compilation 3 CD "Canada -- A Folksong Portrait with a fiddle instrumental instead of "Hi diddle diddle dum" chorus.
10) False Knight Upon the Road- Morris (ME) 1934 BFSSN-- From Bulletin from the Folk Song Society of the Northeast, Volume 11, in British Ballads section. Sung by Mr. William Morris, Brewer, Maine, August 20, 1934 as learned from the singing of his mother, Mrs. James Morris, daughter of Alexander and Ruth (Hosket) McPhail, native of Prince Edward Island.
11) The Smart Schoolboy- Wolford (VA) 1935 Niles-- This version was collected by John Jacob Niles in 1935 from Preston Wolford in Dot, Virginia.
12) The False Fidee- Wilkin (IN) 1935 Brewster-- Sung by Lucile Wilkin, Connersville, Ind., 1935; learned from Mrs. Chester A. Porter. published Ballads and Songs from Indiana- Brewster, 1940, pp. 29-30.
13) False Knight to the Row- Johnson (VA) 1939-- From University of Virginia Library Collection, 1547/20/375. Sung by Mrs. Polly Johnson, Wise Co. Virginia, 6/12/39; collected by E. L. Hamilton. Text incomplete.
14) The Boy and the Devil- Ninniger (VA) 1941 Davis-- From Davis; More Traditional Ballads, 1960. Collected by Miss Alfreda M. Peel, of Salem, Va. Sung by Mrs. Ninninger, of Roanoke, Va., Roanoke county. November 6, 1941. This fragment is related to the last two stanzas of Child A.
15) False Knight on the Road- Long (NC) 1947 REC-- Sung by Maud Long of Hot Springs, North Carolina, at Washington, D. C., 1947. Recorded by Duncan Emrich. See also her mother's NC version (Gentry, 1916) collected by Sharp.
16) False Knight Upon the Road- Wickens (NS) 1950-- From Traditional Songs from Nova Scotia; Senior and Creighton, 1950. Sung by Evelyn Richardson and Anne Wickens; Nova Scotia. The title is the generic Child title.
17) Devil and the School Child- Couch (KY) 1953 Roberts-- From Roberts: In the Pines, 1971. The proud porter gay is the Devil. Verses 6 and 7 conform loosely to Child A last two verses. Roberts also published it in Sang Branch Setters: Folksongs And Tales Of A Kentucky Mountain Family by Leonard Roberts, published by the American Folklore Society in 1974. According to that book, "It was collected by Mr. Roberts from Jim Couch of Putney, KY, in 1955 (date is two years off). Mr. Couch learned it from his father, Tom Couch."
18) False Knight on the Road- E. Henneberry (NS) 1956-- Learned from their fathers. Sung by Edmund Henneberry with Kenneth Faulkner on fiddle (FM 4006 1956) on the compilation 3 CD "Canada -- A Folksong Portrait. Charles Jordan and Joyce Sullivan version is nearly identical and the "Hi diddle diddle dum" chorus which comes originally from the Henneberry family.
19) "Où Vas-Tu, Mon P'tit Garçon?" Baillargeon 1956-- Sung by Hélène Baillargeon; 1956, a French-Canadian version of Child Ballad Arcadian Songs; Record Label Folkways Records.
20) The Knightman- Hight (AR) 1959-- Max Hunter Collection; As sung by Maxine Hight (Hite), Fayetteville, Arkansas on November 18, 1959.
21) The False Knight- Kelly (NB) 1960 Haggerty/Felt-- This is the short version from Bronson. Sung by Alan Kelly, Chaplin Island Road, Miramichi, New Brunswick, 1960 (Edmunds 1985 gives a date of 1962). The tune, which is irregular, is slightly different; the false knight is recorded as 'the fol-fol-follies at the road'; and the text has only three stanzas. In 1963 an eight stanza version was included L. Manny & J. R. Wilson, Songs of Miramichi, pp. 199-200.
22) The False, False Fly- Jane Siberry (Canada) 2000- Not a traditional version but included as a popular adaptation (here and abroad) that curiously relates to one of the earliest versions collected in North America which was sung before 1870, in Fort Kent, Me., by a French girl who could speak very little English, as learned from an illiterate Irish family.
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Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America
by Tristram Coffin 1950 from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America;
3. THE FALSE KNIGHT UPON THE ROAD
Texts: American Songster (Cozzens, N. Y.) / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 1 1 / Belden, Mo F-S, 8 / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 29 / BFSSNE, XI, 8 / Charley Fox's Minstrel's Companion (Turner and Fisher, Philadelphia): "Tell-Tale Polly" / Creighton, Sgs Bids NSc, i / Davis, Trd Bid Fa, 61 / JAFL, XXIV, 344; XXX, 285 / The Only True Mother Goose Melodies (Monroe and Francis, Boston, 1833), 6 / Pound, Am Bids Sgs, 4.8 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplchns, #i / SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, I, 1 } I Fa FLS Bull, #7, 4.
Barry quotes this nursery rhyme as found in "The Only True Mother Goose" as a riddling equivalent:
The Man in the Wilderness
The man in the wilderness asked me
How many strawberries grew in the sea.
I answered him, as I thought good,
As many as red herrings grew in the wood.
Not sure why Coffin lists this a a version. "Tell-Tale Polly" is a variant of Child 4, not 3; the American Songster is also No. 4.
R.M.
Local Titles: False Fidee, The' False Knight, The False Knight on the Road, Fause Knicht and the Wee Boy.
Story Types: A: A child, sometimes a boy and sometimes a girl, is detained by the Devil or a "false knight". A number of questions are asked, but the child is ready with witty answers and eventually names the questioner. Little of the situation or setting is revealed in the dialogue. Examples: Brewster; Davis; SharpK (A).
B: The question-and-answer sequence is similar to that of Type A, but the child throws the questioner in a well at the end.
Examples: Belden, Pound.
Discussion; American texts of this song are quite rare, and it is Davis' opinion they emanate from Virginia (Trd Sid Va, 61) to a large extent. The Type A stories are generally close to Child A. The Type B songs, where the boy throws the questioner in the well, show a dramatic flourish which stretches logic to make "right" triumph fully.
The Nova Scotia (Creighton) version has a long and unique nonsense refrain added to an incomplete text, and Sharp (SharpK, Eng F-S Aplcbns, 1, 41 1) points out that the introduction "A Knight met a child in the road . . " in his Tennessee version is unusual. The Maine (BFSSNE, XI, 8) version is interesting in its fiddle sequence and the boy's final wish that the fiddle bow
will stick in his questioner's throat.
Gerould (MLN, LIII, 5967) advances the idea that the Davis (Va.) and the SharpK (N. C.) versions may be of Irish origin, although he states this is not likely in the case of the Northern and Western texts. Barry, (JBFSSNE, XI, 89) discusses the song as a homily and treats its European affiliations.
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[Not Traditional] False Knight Upon the Road- Tony and Irene Saletan
THE FALSE KNIGHT UPON THE ROAD
Irene Saletan, a founding member of The Kossoy Sisters, and her husband Tony recorded this ballad Maud Long's version for Folk Legacy. Here are the liner notes:
Professor Child included this ancient ballad as the third in his compilation of three hundred and five. It is still to be found in oral tradition, and has been collected in England, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, and in various parts of the United States.
When Lee Haggerty, president of Folk-Legacy, once asked a Canadian traditional singer if he knew a song in which a knight met a child on the road, the singer replied, with great seriousness, "That was no knight; that was the devil!" Indeed, others have suggested that the knight was, if not Satan himself, one of his minions. The boy in the story must rely on his wit in reply to a series of questions, otherwise he may be whisked away to Hell.
The version of the ballad, sung here by Tony and Irene Saletan, comes, quite indirectly, from the singing of Maud Long, whose mother, Jane Gentry, was one of the singers from whom Cecil Sharp gathered songs in North Carolina, in 1916. Sharp was an English folk¬song collector who came to this country when he learned that many songs of English origin were still being sung in our Southern Appalachian mountains.
Comparing this version with the one Maud Long recorded for the Library of Congress in 1947 (published by Bronson), one can see that it has been altered considerably over the years. Two other versions of this ballad may be heard on Folk-Legacy. Joe Hickerson sings one on his FSI-39, and Betty Smith sings one that is much nearer to the Maud Long version on FSA-53.
[ "The False Knight Upon the Road" collected from Mrs. Maud Long of Hot Springs, NC by Artus Monroe Moser, born in 1894 in Hickory, North Carolina
Father: David Lafayette Moser
Mother: Cordia Elizabeth (King) Moser
Moser's maternal ancestors were among the pioneer settlers of Western North Carolina. His mother's great-uncle, William Franklin Foster, founded Newton Academy, the first school west of the Blue Ridge. His father worked in the Forestry Service on the Biltmore Estate and later on Mount Mitchell. As an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Moser became interested in local history. As a professor at the University of Tennessee, at Knoxville, and later at Lincoln Memorial University, at Harrogate, Tennessee, he continued to gather historical material about Western North Carolina. He also became a collector of folk ballads and folklore for the Library of Congress. In 1943 he became professor of Social Sciences at Asheville-Biltmore College. Artus Moser died in Swannanoa on December 24, 1992.]
THE FALSE KNIGHT UPON THE ROAD- Tony and Irene Saletan; Folk-Legacy
A knight met a child on the road.
"Oh, where are you going?" said the knight upon the road.
"I'm going to my school," said the child as he stood.
He stood and he stood, And it's well because he stood.
"I'm going to my school," said the child as he stood.
"What have you in your hand?" said the knight upon the road.
"I have my bread and cheese," said the child as he stood.
He stood and he stood, And it's well because he stood.
"I have my bread and cheese," said the child as he stood.
"Well, won't you give me some?" said the knight upon the road.
"No, ne'er a bite nor crumb," said the child as he stood.
He stood and he stood, And it's well because he stood.
"No, ne'er a bite nor crumb," said the child as he stood.
"I wish you were in the sand." said the knight upon the road.
"With a good staff in my hand," said the child as he stood.
He stood and he stood, And it's well because he stood.
"With a good staff in my hand," said the child as he stood.
"I wish you were in the sea." said the knight upon the road.
"With a good boat under me," said the child as he stood.
He stood and he stood, And it's well because he stood.
"With a good boat under me," said the child as he stood.
"I think I hear a bell." said the knight upon the road.
"And it's ringing you to hell," said the child as he stood.
He stood and he stood, And it's well because he stood.
"And it's ringing you to hell," said the child as he stood.
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"The False Night in the Road"- Betty Smith (Dulcimer) with MP3 and sheet music
[This is not a traditional version, I'm including it because it's based on Jane Gentry's melody.
R. Matteson 2014]
Ballads on the Mountain Dulcimer
by Betty N. Smith
Betty N. Smith has performed, taught, and shared the traditional music of the South for over forty years in classrooms, concert halls, workshops, and festivals. She has taught mountain dulcimer skills and the traditions of the dulcimer at John C. Campbell Folk School, Western Carolina University Mountain Dulcimer Week, WCU Winter Weekend, ASU Dulcimer Workshop, Augusta Heritage Center, the Swannanoa Gathering, Hindman Settlement School, and Pine Mountain.
The recipient of numerous ballad and dulcimer awards, in 1982 Betty was awarded the Bascom Lamar Lunsford Award for significant contributions to the folk traditions of the Southern Mountains. She was honored by the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival with the "Minstrel of Appalachia" Award for a lifetime of performing and preserving mountain music. The North Carolina Folklore Society presented Betty Smith with the Brown-Hudson Award for contribution s to the study and appreciation of folklife in North Carolina. She has been honored by the California Traditional Music Society, the Memphis Dulccimer Festival, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with its Alumni Distinguished Service Award. The Appalachian Writers Association presented her with the 1999 award for Contributions to Appalachian Literature. She received awards fromt he North Carolina Society of Historians for her book Jane Hicks Gentry: A Singer Among Singers, and her play, "A Mountain Riddle." Betty Smith's children's music curriculum materials have been published by Open Court and Children's Music Workshop. She has been recorded by Folk Legacy Records, June Appal Records, Bluff Mountain Music, and Children's Music Workshop.
I do love traditional ballads. I love the way they tell a story - with a language all their own. I like to think of them as "a literature of the mind." They have enriched my life in many ways. My grandmother's baby-rocking song was "Barbry Allen" and my dad sang such ballads as "Little Mohee" and "The Dying Cowboy," as well as shape note hymns. I like to sing ballads unaccompanied, but if I feel the need for some accompaniment the mountain dulcimer and psaltery do very well. They do not overpower the story. I like to introduce ballads to folks who may not know them, so for quite a few years I have done "Ballads on the Dulcimer" workshops at Western Carolina University Mountain Dulcimer Week and the ASU Dulcimer Workshop.
"The False Night in the Road"
This tune comes from Mrs. Jane Gentry of Hot Springs, North Carolina, who sang more songs for the English ballad collector Cecil Sharp than any other singer he met in this country. He met Jane Gentry in 1916 and she sang about 70 songs fo rhim - many of them traditional ballads from the British Isles. (Jane Hicks Gentry: A Singer Among Singers by Betty N. Smith, University Press of Kentucky).
Jane Gentry was born on Beech Mountain in North Carolina during the Civil War. She grew up in a family of singers and storytellers and was the first to have her oral materials collected. Singing and storytelling became a part of every facet of her life. Her children said they always knew where their mother was because she sang all the time.
The text comes from Mrs. Maud Long, daughter of Jane Gentry. Mrs. Gentry's text was not as complete as the one Mrs. Long recorded for the Library of Congress. Since Mrs. Long said that he learned the songs from her mother I prefer to use the more complete text.
Some of the oldest of the ballads are riddle ballads. This is a riddle ballad, the story of a mortal outwitting the supernatural being by the quickness of his wit and the magic power of the word of God. If this school boy answers all of the questions correctly he belongs to God; if not, he belongs to the devil.
Through oral tradition, ballads were sung unaccompanied, with the singer seldom singing the tune the same with each verse. When they were written down the collector had to listen and determine how the singer generally sang the tune. Only the first verse follows the note pattern, so the singer must make the other verses fit the shape of the tune. Get the shape of the tune in your head and learn the words. Then throw the paper away. Keep your accompaniment simple. You may not be singing the tune as precisely as it was written down, but that is all right and in keeping with oral tradition.
Listen to Betty Smith sing and play "The False Knight in the Road."
This is used by permission from the Folk-Legacy CD-53, "Betty Smith: "Songs Traditionally Sung in North Carolina."
"Where are you going?" said the knight in the road.
"I'm going to my school," said the child as he stood.
He stood and he stood, he well thought on he stood.
"I'm going to my school," said the child as he stood.
Similarly:
"What do you study there?" said the knight in the road.
"We learn the Word of God," said the child as he stood.
"What are you eating there?" said the knight in the road.
"I'm eating bread and cheese," said the child as he stood.
"Oh, won't you give me some?" said the knight in the road.
"No, not a bite nor crumb," said the child as he stood.
"I wish you were in the sea," said the knight in the road.
"A good boat under me" said the child as he stood.
"I wish you were in the sand," said the knight in the road.
"A good staff in my hand," said the child as he stood.
"I wish you were in a well," said the knight in the road.
"And you that deep in Hell," said the child as he stood.
The following tablature is arranged in DAA Ionian tuning, or you can play the melody notes on the middle string of DAd tuning.