Pretty Polly- Hurt (IN) c1860 Brewster B
[From Brewster: Ballads and Songs of Indiana; 1936; Footnotes re-numbered. This version was published in the JAFL in 1935. Brewster's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
LADY ISABEL AND THE ELF-KNIGHT (Child, No. 4)
The widespread currency of this ballad not only in the British Isles and America but also in Continental Europe led Child to write of it: "Of all ballads this has perhaps obtained the widest circulation." Only three variants have been recovered in this state, however. They are closest perhaps to Child E, although the name Polly does not occur in that text and is found only in F. In other texts the heroine is May Colvin (Colven) or May Collin. Her reminding the false lover of his promise of marriage occurs in none of the Child versions. The name William does not appear in the texts of Child; there the lover is Sir John. It is possible, however, that the William of our Indiana variant is a corruption of villain. The turning three times around is not found in any of the Child versions.
For American texts, see Belden, No. 1 (fragment); Brown, p. 9; Campbell and Sharp, No. 2; Cox, No. 1 (fragment); Hudson, No. 1; Mackenzie, Ballads, No. 1; Scarborough, p. 43; Shearin, p. 3; Shearin and Combs, p. 1; Smith, Ballads, No. 1; Wyman and Brockway, p. 82; Sandburg, p. 60; Journal, XVIII, 132; XIX, 232; XXII, 65, 76, 374, 344; XXIV, 333; XXVII, 90; XXVIII, 148; XXX, 286; XXXV, 338; XLII, 254; XLIX, 213 (Missouri); Fauset, Folk-Lore from Nova Scotia, p. 109; PTFLS, X, 138; Gordon, Folk-Songs of America, p. 8; Cox, Traditional Ballads, Mainly from West Virginia, pp. 1-5; Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands, p. 32; BFSSNE, I, 3 (New Hampshire); Randolph, Ozark Mountain Folks, p. 216.
English and Scottish texts will be found in Broadwood and Maitland, English County Songs, p. 164 (with air); Roxburghe Ballads, VII, 383; Dixon, Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England (London, 1846), p. 74; Greig, Last Leaves, p. 2 (with air); Burne, Shropshire Folk-Lore, p. 548; JFSS, I, 246; II, 282; IV, 116, 374.
For a Hungarian version, "Molnar Anna," see Buday, George, and Giles Ortutay, Szekely Nepballad&k No. 25. Manx analogues, "Illiam Bogt" and "Cur uss Jeed," appear in JFSS, VII, 300-301.
Local titles for this ballad are "Six Kings' Daughters" and "Pretty Polly." It is sometimes known also as "The False Lover."
B. "Pretty Polly." Sung by "Uncle Reuben" Hurt, eighty-four, of Oakland City, Indiana. Gibson County. March 10, 1935. Mr. [Hurt says that he learned it from his mother when he was a small boy. The ballad is known to him as "Pretty Polly."]
1. "Go bring me some of your father's gold
And some of your mother's fee,
And two good horses from your father's stable,
Where stand thirty and three."
2. She mounted upon the milk-white steed,
And he upon the gray;
They rode till they came to the wide water seas,
Three long hours before day.
3. "Light you down, my pretty Polly;
I've something to say to thee.
I have drowned six of the kings' daughters here,
And the seventh you shall be.
4. "Pull off those fine clothing
And lay them on a rock;
They are too costly clothing
To lay in the water and rot."
5. "Hush, hush, false-hearted William;[1]
That's not what you promised me;
And married I should be.
6. "Turn yourself three times around
And face the limb on the tree";
She picked him up most manfully
And plunged him in the sea.
7. "Lie there, false-hearted William;
Lie there in place of me;
You would have freely stripped me,
But I'll take nothing from thee."
8. She mounted on the milk-white steed,
And behind she led the gray;
.........................
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9. "Pretty Polly, what are you doing,
Up at this early hour?"
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. ..........................
10. "Hold your tongue, pretty parrot,
And tell no tales of me;
Your cage shall be of better[2] gold,
And hung on a willow tree."
11. "The cats came to my cage door
And were about to murder me,
And I called to my pretty Polly
To drive the cats away."
1. Possibly a mistake for villain.
2. beaten