Six Pretty Maidens- Lugg (Corn) 1905 Gardiner
[From: [More Ballads] by Lucy E. Broadwood, Cecil J. Sharp, Ralph Vaughan Williams, A. G. Gilchrist and Frank Kidson; from Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. 4, No. 15 (Dec., 1910), pp. 110-137. Published by: English Folk Dance + Song Society. Broadwood's notes follow:
R. Matteson 2018]
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 herd- boy 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," Roxbnrghc 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.
“Six Pretty Maidens.” Sung by Mr. Lugg (53), a dairyman. Noted by C. S. Parsonisont, Mus. Bac. at LAUNCESTON, CORNWALL, FEB. 1905.
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.
I2 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 overt 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.'
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Footnotes:
1. Married
2. False Knight Outwitted:
"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.