A Knight- Thomas Smart (Wilt) 1915 A. Williams
[From: WSRO: 2598/36 Packet 4: Wiltshire: Williams, A: MS collection No Wt 320; also Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard, 16th October, 1915 p 2, Part 3, No. 1: Williams, A: Folk songs of the upper Thames, 1923, p 37.
R. Matteson 2018]
Notes: Alfred Williams: WGS / FSUT: 'Old riddle song; sung by Thomas Smart, Broad Blunsdon, Wiltshire. A mystical and highly suggestive piece. Obtained of Thomas Smart, late of Broad Blunsdon. The song was his mother's. I have nowhere else heard it.'
A Knight (Old Riddle Song)- sung Thomas Smart (1838-1919) of Blunsdon St Andrew, Wiltshire, published in 1915. Collected by Alfred Williams.
Verse 1: There was a knight came to the gate,
He knocked high, he knocked late.
Chorus: Bow down, bow down, sweetheart, and a bonny lass,
And all things shall go well.
If thou canst answer me three times three,
In ten thousand pieces I'll tear thee.
Verse 2: What is louder than a horn?
What is sharper than a thorn?
What is whiter than milk?
What is softer than silk?
What is higher than a tree?
What is deeper than the sea?
Chorus
Verse 3: Thunder's louder than a horn,
Hunger's sharper than a thorn.
Snow is whiter than milk,
Down is softer than silk.
Heaven is higher than a tree,
And hell is deeper than the sea.
Chorus
Then he clapped his wings, and aloud did cry,
And a flame of fire he flew away.