Outlandish Knight- Ten Music Versions 1910
From: More Ballads
by Lucy E. Broadwood, Cecil J. Sharp, Ralph Vaughan Williams, A. G. Gilchrist, Frank Kidson
Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. 4, No. 15 (Dec., 1910), pp. 110-137
26.-THE OUTLANDISH KNIGHT; or, MAY COLVIN
FIRST TUNE
SUNG BY MR. LUGG, DAIRYMAN (AGED 53),
Noted by C. S. Parsonisont, Mus. Bac. AT LAUNCESTON, CORNWALL, FEB. 1905. J
1. 'Twas of a youth and a well-beloved youth,
'Twa of a squier's son,
He courted a bailiff's daughter so fair,
And she was an English one.
2 He courted her for many long winter nights,
And many a long summer day,
He courted her both early and late,
For to take her sweet life away.
3 He says, "Go, get me some of your father's gold,
And some of your mother's fee;
And away we will go to some foreign countrie,
And marry,[1] marry we shall be."
4 She went and got some of her father's gold,
And some of her mother's fee;
And away they did go to her father's stable door,
Where horses stood thirty and three.
5 They took two of the best of the nags,
And she on her lily-white grey;
Away they did ride to some fair river's side,
Six hours before it was day.
6 He says, " Unlight, unlight, my pretty Polly,
Unlight, unlight," cries he,
For six pretty maidens I have drowned here before,
And a seventh thou art to be."
7 She said, " Go, pick a prickle to keep away the thistle,
That grows by the river Fee,[2]
That it may not mingle with my curly, curly locks,
Nor my lily, milk-white skin."
8 He went to pick a prickle to keep away the thistle,
Then she pushed the young man in,
Saying, "Lie there, lie there, thou false-hearted man,
Lie there instead of me."
9 He says, "Take me by the hand my pretty Polly,
Take me by the hand," cried he,
"Take me by the hand, my pretty Polly,
And a lady you shall be."
10. "Now lie there, lie there, thou false-hearted man,
Lie there instead of me,
For six pretty maidens thou has drowned here before,
And the seventh hath drowned thee."
11. She mounted on her lily-white grey,
And away she did ride (away),
And she arrived at her father's stable door
Three hours before it was day.
12. Now the parrot, being over the window so high,
And heard what sweet Polly had said,
And the master, being in at the window so high,
Soon jumps out over[3] bed.
13 Saying, "What's the matter with you, my pretty Polly?
What's the matter with you?" cried he,
"What's the matter with you, my pretty Polly?
So many hours before it is day."
Spoken.-"Nothing, master, but the old cat's on the top of my cage, to take my sweet life away, and I'm calling on my young mistress to drive the old puss away."
14 She says, " Hush, hush, my pretty Polly,
Don't pick no prates on me,
For thou shalt have a cage of the best of gold
And a door of the best ivory.'
15 "Go fetch the sickle, to crop the nettle
That grows so near the brim,
For fear it should tangle my golden locks,
Or freckle my milk-white skin."
The late Dr. G. B. Gardiner, who noted the words of this song, writes of the singer, Mr. Lugg, as " being almost unlettered." He learned his songs " as a herdboy of seven or eight years of age from a man of eighty." Mr. Lugg gave the title of this song as "Six pretty Maidens." It is known usually as "The Outlandish Knight," "Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight," or "May Colvin." Mr. Lugg's version of words contains many interesting variations from the best-known stall-ballad copies, and it has a striking likeness to " The False Knight Outwitted," Roxburghe Ballads (B.M.), Vol. iii, p. 449, although supplying more details in places. The first two verses are interesting; one is almost identical with the first verse of " The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington," and the second gives an explanation of the false wooer's intentions from the first. Curiously enough, Mr. Lugg's tune begins in the same way as does the tune to "The Bailiff's Daughter," noted by the Rev. John Broadwood before I840 (see Sussex Songs), and by myself, also in Sussex (see 7ournal, Vol. i, p. 209). It is also much like the traditional ballad-air, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (Chappell's Popular Music) and "Little Mushiegrove" (Motherwell's Minstrelsy).-L. E. B.
SECOND TUNE
SUNG BY AN OLD VILLAGE WOMAN,
Noted by Ada R. Broadwood. AT ST. STEPHEN'S, HERTS, circa I895.
"Don't prit - tie, don't prat - tle, my pret - ty Pol - ly,
Nor tell no tales of me.
Your cage shall be made of the glit - ter - ing gold,
And your perch of the best i - vo - ry...............
This second tune, which is of the " Lord Lovel " air type, should be compared with two from Yorkshire and one from Westmorland, noted respectively by Mr. C. Lolley, Mr. F. Kidson and Mr. G. Rathbone, and printed in Journal, Vol. ii,
p. 282, all to the ballad "Outlandish Knight." -L. E. B.
THIRD TUNE
SUNG BY MRS. FLETCHER (COTTAGER),
Noted by L. E. Broadwood. NEAR LIFTON, NORTH DEVON, SEPT., 1893.
FOURTH TUNE
SUNG BY MR. J. SQUIRES,
Noted by Cecil Sharp. AT HOLFORD, SOMERSET, AUG. 29TH, 1904.
The out - Ian - dish knight care from the North Land,
And he came a - woo - ing of me .............
He said he would take me to the North Land,
And there he would mar - ry me...........
And there he would mar - ry me. ....
He said he would take me to the North Land,
And there he would mar - iy me..............
FIFTH TUNE
Noted by Cecil Sharp. SUNG BY MR. HARRY RICHARDS,
MIXOLYDIAN. AT CURRY RIVEL, SOMERSET, JULY 29TH, 1904.
An out - land - ish Knight came front the North Land,
As he come a - woo - ing to me, ......
He said he would take me un - to the North Land,
And then he would mar - ry me......
SIXTH TUNE
Noted by Cecil Sharp. SUNG BY MRS. WARE,
AEOLIAN. AT OVER STOWEY, JAN. 23RD, 1907.
It is very interesting to note that this sixth tune, and also the fifth, are distinctly variants of an air rather often associated with songs of the "Elfin Knight" character. (For an example see the version noted by me in Ireland, Journal, Vol. iii, p. I2). These "riddle" or "impossible task" songs seem originally all to have turned on the subject of a demon-suitor, but in many cases the "demon" drops out and the knight or suitor only remains, and in some versions a dialogue, or even a monologue only, survives, with nonsensical results.[4] The other title for the "Outlandish Knight" being "Lady Isabel and the Elfin Knight" makes a likeness between the two airs above mentioned very significant. -L. E. B.
SEVENTH TUNE
SUNG BY MRS. J. CHAPMAN,
Noted by Cecil Sharp, AT WEST HARPTREE, SOMERSET, AUG. 25TH, 1904.
An out - land - ish gen- tle- man came from the North South,
A - woo - ing un - to me .......
He told me he would take me un - - to the North Land,
And then he would mar - ry me............
There is nothing, in the words of any of these versions of mine worth printing. They were all more or less corrupt versions of published copies. The best tune I have noted is in Folk-Songs fromn Somerset, No. 84. Compare the version sung by Mr. Lugg with that in English Folk-Songs for Schools which was collected in Devon by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould.- C. J. S.
EIGHTH TUNE
Noted by R. Vaughan Williamls. SUNG BY MR. VERRALL,
MIXOLYDIAN. MONKSGATE, NEAR HORSHAM, DEC. 22ND, I904.
The singer called this "An Outlandish Rover."-R. V. W.
NINTH TUNE
Tune noted by R. Vauighant Williams. SUNG BY MR. W. COLCOMBE, DORIAN. WEOBLEY, HEREFORDSHIRE, 1909.
(0) its of a no - ble gen. tle-man a high -way -man was he,
In court - ing of.... a la dy fair he gained her com - pa - ny.
Mr. Colcombe, who called this song " The Highway Robber," sang a variant of his tune to the song known as " There is an Alehouse." This may be considered worth printing here, as an interesting example of how a tune is changed by traditional
singers to fit different words.
(THERE IS AN ALEHOUSE.)
AEOLIAN
The above tunes are printed by kind permission of Mrs. Leather to whom Mr. Colcombe, now dead, sang so often.- R. V. W.
In Danish, Swedish and German versions the "Knight" suitor is often merely a "robber," justifying Mr. Colcombe's title. (See Child's Ballads, large edition, "; Lady Isabel and the Elfin Knight.")-L. E. B.
(SHE BORROWED SOME OF HER FATHER'S GOLD) TENTH TUNE
Noted by R. Vaughan Williams. SUNG BY MR. HILTON,
MIXOLYDIAN. SOUTH WALSHAM, NORFOLK, APRIL, I908.
Though the main idea of the "Outlandish Knight" is founded upon an oral tradition widely spread in many European countries, the knight himself, in these English forms of the story, seems to be a lineal descendant-divested of supernatural attributes-of the malevolent water-spirit (" havmand") of Scandinavian ballads, who in the enchanted guise of a white knight weds a young girl that he may drag her down to his home beneath the sea-waves. When the supernatural character of this water-spirit became lost, the conception of his submarine dwelling would also be lost, and the girl engulfed beneath the waves would naturally be supposed to be drowned. But a suggestion of the northern source of our ballad survives, I think, in the "north lands" from which the " outlandish " stranger comes forth on his evil quest. - A. G. G.
Child says of this ballad that it "has perhaps obtained the widest circulation of all. It is nearly as well known to the southern as to the northern nations of Europe." In his large edition of English and Scottish Ballads Child deals at great length with the origins and variants of texts, British and foreign. Possibly the evil suitor was once a "water-spirit," of which we find traces still in West Highland legend and song, and Miss Gilchrist's note shows that she is of my opinion. For other words and airs see Kidson's Traditional Tunes, English County Songs, Folk-Songs from Somlerset, Reay and Stokoe's Sontgs of Northern England (where the air is very like the second tune here printed), Northumbrian Minstrelsy, Shropshire Folk-Lore, Eight Hampshire Sonlgs, and Journial, Vol. ii, p. 282, and under the title of " May Colean," " May Colvin," " May Colvine," Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Smith's Scottish Minstrel, and Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs. The ballad is included in almost every collection of ancient poetry, and is on broadsides old and modern. - L. E. B.
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Footnotes:
1. Married.
2. Cf. Roxbuirghe Ballads, B.M., iii, 449.
3. (?) "of a bed."
4. I have enlarged on this in Journal, Vol. iii, pp. I2-I6.- L. E. B.