Pretty Polly- Lougee (NH) 1908 Flanders I; Barry
[My title, replacing the generic Outlandish Knight. Flanders- Ancient Ballads, 1966. Notes by Coffin follow. Collected by Phillips Barry and sent to Flanders after its publication in BFSSNE, I, 3, in 1930.
R. Matteson Jr. 2014]
Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight
(Child 4)
This song is known to practically all the ballad-singing people of Europe from Scandinavia to the Latin countries and into Poland to the Netherlands. Its theme, the story of the ogre who decoys maidens to their deaths but who is at last thwarted by an opportunistic girl, is widespread in tales (see Bluebeard and related matter) as well. Longer versions of the song may involve a conversation in which the girl asks her brother's permission to go with the lover who has sung irresistible melodies; a choice given the maid between hanging and being stabbed; remarks by the head of the decapitated lover; a meeting between the girl, who is carrying the ogre's head, and the ogre's mother; and the conquering maiden's blowing her horn like a warrior as she approaches her father's castle. It is easy to see that the Anglo-American texts, where even the supernatural nature of the lover has pretty well vanished and where the naive chivalry of the villain gives the girl her chance, are abbreviated and somewhat pale. However, the true core of the story, the vigorous nature of the heroine, is preserved faithfully--almost as well as in French Canada where Jeanneton kicks the man in the stream as he pulls off her stocking and then holds him under with a branch.
Versions similar to A and B below (see Child E), in which the girl is told to remove a series of garments, are more common to New England than to the rest of the United States. Texts C and D, in which nettles or other brambles are removed from the river's edge, are not until except in the opening stanza which is borrowed from Child 105, nor are texts like L where the parrot (note he is a pirate in A) has been omitted. The parrot in "Lady Isabel" and the parrot in "Young Hunting" (Child 68) often get confused anyhow. It is somewhat unusual, however, to find as one does in Versions L and M that the girl recites what has happened to her. Obviously, from what goes on between her and the parrot, in Anglo-American tradition she would prefer to drop the subject.
The European backgrounds of this have been intensively studied. Grundtvig (Danmark's gamle Folkeviser (Copenhagen, 1853-90], IV) made an elaborate investigation of its dissemination; Child, 22 f., spent a long introduction on it; and more recently it has come under the thorough attention of Iivar Kemppinen (The Ballad of Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight, Heisinki, 1954) and Holger Nygard. Nygard's two articles, in JAF, LXV, 1-12, and LXVIII, 141-52, give one a start on a bibliography and a nice introduction to the problems involved; his book, The Ballad of Heer Halewijn (Knoxville, 1958), is a complete study. Anglo-American bibliographies and discussion, are found through Coffin, 32-35, Belden, 5-6; and Dean Smith, 97. The song is included in Barry's British Ballad's from Maine, 14.
The large group of tunes for this ballad falls (indistinctly) into two groups: 1) the versions of Burling, Harrington, Moses, Amey, Russel, Fish (which is especially close to Moses) and perhaps Pease (close to Russell?); and 2) Lougee, with Daniels and George (distantly close to Lougee, but close to each other). The Hayes version seems outside these groups, as does that of Lane which may be related to group I. Comparison with BCI groups reveals that our group I is part of BCl's group A, and our group 2, part of his group B.
I. Pretty Polly. Sent to H. H. F. by Phillips Barry after its publication in BFSSNE, I, 3, in 1930, as sung by Mrs. Anna W. Lougee, Thornton, New Hampshire, on JuIy 15, 1908. Phillips Barry, Collector; 1908. Structure: A B C D (2,2,2,2); Rhythm C; Contour arc; Scale: pentatonic (pentachordal?) t.c. E or G. Note the large intervals and fanfare-like figures. For mel. rel. see SAA, 2A; and other "Lord Lovel" tunes.
Pretty Polly
He mounted on his milk-white steed,
And she the turban gray,
And they rode till they came to the river side,
Two hours before it was day.
"Light off, light off, my Pretty Polly,
And stand by the side of me;
For six pretty maidens I have drowned here,
And you the seventh shall be.
"Lie off, lie off, those costly robes,
And lay them down by me;
For they're too rich and costly far,
To rot in this salt sea."
He turned him 'round about to take
A look at the Liberty-tree;
She caught him in her arms so bold,
And threw him into the sea.
"Lie there, lie there, you false young man,
Lie there instead of me;
For if six pretty maidens you've drowned here,
Go, keep them company!"
She mounted on the milk-white steed.,
And led the turban gray;
And she rode til she came to her father's house,
Two hours before it was day.
Then up spoke her pretty parrot,
Who in his cage did lay;
Saying: "Where have you been, my pretty polly,
So long before it is day?"
"Oh, hold your tongue, you naughty parrot,
And tell no tales of me;
Your cage shall be made of the best of gold,
With a silver lock and key."
Then up spoke her father dear,
Who in his bed did lay;
Saying: "What is the matter, my pretty parrot,
So long before it is day?"
"The old cat came to my cage door,
And said that she would stay,
And I was calling to pretty polly,
To drive the old cat away."