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Sir John
Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight / The Outlandish Knight / Sir John
[
Roud 21
; Child 4
; G/D 2:225
; Henry H163
; Ballad Index C004
; VWML AW/6/115
; Bodleian
Roud 21
; Wiltshire
922
; Mudcat 18292
, 67828
; trad.]
Jumbo Brightwell sang The False-Hearted Knight at the Eel's Foot in Eastbridge, Suffolk. This recording by E.J. Moeran was broadcast on the BBC Third Programme in late 1947. It was included in 1955 on the anthology The Columbia World Library of Folk and Primitive Music - Volume III: England which was reissued on CD in 1998 as part of Rouder's Alan Lomax Collection. It was also included in 1975 on Brightwell's Topic album Songs from the Eel's Foot, in the early 2000s on the Snatch'd from Oblivion CD East Anglia Sings, and in 2000 on the Veteran CD of traditional singing and music from The Eel's Foot, Good Order! Ladies and Gentlemen Please.
Fred Jordan sang this song as Six Pretty Maids. A recording made by Peter Kennedy for the BBC in 1952 was included on The Child Ballads 1 (The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 4; Caedmon 1961, Topic 1968) and in 2003 on his Veteran anthology A Shropshire Lad. A later recording by Tony Foxworthy was released on his 1974 Topic album When the Frost Is on the Pumpkin. and on the Topic “celebration of English traditional music” of 1996, Hidden English.
Jean Ritchie sang False Sir John in 1954 on her Elektra album Kentucky Mountain Songs. She noted:
Another of Uncle Jason's fine “old ones” this ballad has descended from the more ancient one, Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight. The story is common in Britain, Germany, Holland, Scandinavia, and such unlikely-seeming places as Poland and the Latin countries. As the Ritchies sing it, the Elf-Knight is no longer a supernatural being but plain old False Sir John, and Lady Isabel has become simple May Colvin.
A.L. Lloyd sang The Outlandish Knight in 1956 on his and Ewan MacColl's Riverside anthology The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Volume I. Like all of his tracks from this anthology it was reissued in 2011 on his Fellside album Bramble Briars and Beams of the Sun.
Another version collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1908 from Mr Hilton, South Walsham, Norfolk, was published in 1959 in his and Lloyd's The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. A.L. Lloyd recorded a version shortened by four verses for his 1960 EP England & Her Folk Songs. Like all tracks from this EP it was reissued in 2003 on the CD England & Her Traditional Songs. Lloyd wrote in the album's sleeve notes:
Cecil Sharp believed this to be the widest circulated of all our folk ballads, “outlandish” here means coming from beyond the northern border—that is, Scotland. The story told is an ancient one of a beguiling lover who entices a whole sequence of girls to their deaths. Ballads on the same theme are known in Poland, Germany, Scandinavia, Holland, France; and perhaps the Bluebeard story is a first cousin to our song. Probably the lover was originally a malevolent water spirit who drowned the girls of his choice. If so, this supernatural element has become so vague as to be almost unnoticeable, as the ballad has passed from mouth to mouth. The rather humorous pay-off concerning the sly talking bird was detached from the ballad in Victorian times, and was made into a separate comic song, Tell-tale Polly, published in Charley Fox's Minstrel Companion (c. 1861), and is an example of the downward path taken by some of our grander specimens of folklore. Vaughan Williams obtained the tune of his version in South Walsham, Norfolk.
Sam Larner sang The Outlandish Knight at home in Winterton, Norfolk in a recording made by Philip Donnellan for the BBC in 1958/59. It was release in 1974 on his Topic album A Garland for Sam.
Fred Hamer collected The Outlandish Knight (The Dappledy Grey) from May Bradley in Ludlow, Shropshire, and published in in 1967 in his book Garners Gay. It was also included in 1971 on the accompanying EFDSS album Garners Gay and in 2010 on her Musical Traditions anthology Sweet Swansea.
Sarah Porter sang The Outlandish Knight in a recording made Brian Matthews at The Three Cups in Punnetts Town in 1965. It was published in 2001 on the Musical Traditions anthology of songs from country pubs, Just Another Saturday Night.
LaRena Clark sang this ballad as The Dapple Grey in a recording made by Edith Fowke in Toronto in 1965. It was released in 1969 on her Topic album of folksongs from the Province of Ontario, A Canadian Garland.
Cyril Tawney sang The Outlandish Knight in 1969 as the title track of his Polydor album of traditional ballads from Devon and Cornwall, The Outlandish Knight. He noted:
Collected in May-June 1891 by Baring-Gould from 86-year-old James Masters of Bradstone, Devon (the singer who gave him the original of the now world-famous Strawberry Fair). There can be few more widespread or persistent ballads than this one, even though the elfish nature of the knight has disappeared. Nearly all English versions conclude with the delightful episode of the co-operative parrot. It may have been this part of the story which led another of Baring-Gould's singers to insist on calling the ballad “The Outlandish Cat”.
Shirley Collins sang The Outlandish Knight on her and her sister Dolly's 1970 album Love, Death & the Lady. Nic Jones recorded it in the same year for his first album, Ballads and Songs, and a year later for his eponymous album Nic Jones. He noted on his first album:
Three very common ballads are included in this record: Sir Patrick Spens, The Outlandish Knight and Little Musgrave. All three are well-known to anyone with a knowledge of balladry, as they are well represented in most ballad collections. … The melody for The Outlandish Knight is from Cecil Sharp's published collection of English Folk Songs.
and in the latter album notes:
This is a further version of a song that appeared on my first LP. I find that certain songs appeal to me on the strength of certain phrases or words that are enjoyable to sing due to their inherent lyrical quality. This is one of them.>
Barbara Dickson sang this ballad as Fine Flowers in the Valley in 1971 on her Decca album From the Beggar's Mantle… Fringed With Gold.
Martin Carthy sang this ballad with a few more verses in 1972 on his album Shearwater and Norma Waterson on Waterson:Carthy's album of 2002, A Dark Light. He noted on the first album:
In the days before the Padstow May revels became the target of annual folk pilgrimage (however non-organised), I remember Cyril Tawney talking about the effect that the incessant beat of the big drum, used to accompany the Padstow May Song, had on revellers. These included local people, people from round about, tourists (plenty of them), and the inevitable gangs of Teds and leather boys, who went along to take the mickey. Invariably, the Teds and leather boys would end up partaking wild-eyed, with the most incredible dervish-like frenzy.
Come spring, a young woman's fancy turns too, and this feeling of the sap rising prevails upon my feeling towards The Outlandish Knight in general. Having been saved from death, bot not from a fate worse than death, by her own presence of mind, she is protected from parental wrath by the presence of mind of her self seeking, get-ahead pet parrot. There's a moral somewhere. The tune is my own.
and on the second:
Norma learned Death and the Lady from [the Cecil Sharp collection]. It's a dark song here and she did what was second nature to the Watersons in their heyday, transforming the tune by altering just a couple of notes. Similarly, but this time rhythmically, she also tweaked (ever so slightly) the tune of The Outlandish Knight as found in The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. This most mysterious of songs has haunted her for years ever since she heard it (with a different melody) from the great Shropshire singer, Fred Jordan. Mysterious in a different way is how it can be that so old and so widespread a song should, wherever it is found, display so very little variation as far as the words are concerned.
Tom Gilfellon sang The Outlandish Knight in 1972 on his Trailer album Loving Mad Tom.
Mary Ann Haynes sang this ballad as The Young Officer in a recording made by Mike Yates in her home in Brighton, Sussex in December 1972. It was published in 1975 on the Topic album Songs of the Open Road and in 1998 on the Topic anthology My Father's the King of the Gypsies (The Voice of the People Series Volume 12).
The Broadside from Grimsby sang Outlandish Knight in 1973 on their Topic album of songs and ballads collected in Lincolnshire, The Moon Shone Bright.
Charlotte Renals of the West Country travelling families, the Orchards, sang The Outlandish Knight in a recording made by Pete Coe in 1978. It was released in 2003 on the Veteran CD of songs from Cornish travellers, Catch Me If You Can. Her nephew Vic Legg sang The Outlandish Knight in 1994 on the Veteran cassette I've Come to Sing a Song: Cornish Family Songs that was reissued on CD in 2000.
Frankie Armstrong sang The Outlandish Knight in 1980 on her album And the Music Plays So Grand. She noted:
This is a very widespread ballad, indicated by it's being number four in the Child collection. Versions have been found all over Europe, including Scandinavia. While it is found in many old collections it's also widely found on the lips of country singers today. Obviously its blend of the mythic and the farcical appeals as much today as it ever did. The tune used here has been pinched from a beautiful version of The Demon Lover from Scotland, called James Harris.
Jim Eldon sang this ballad as Six Pretty Maids on his 1984 album I Wish There Was No Prisons.
Bill Cassidy sang this ballad as Pretty Polly on the 1986 EFDSS cassette Early in the Month of Spring that was reissued in 2003 as part of the Musical Traditions anthology of songs of Irish travellers in England, From Puck to Appleby.
Kevin Mitchell sang False Lover John in 1996 on his Greentrax CD I Sang That Sweet Refrain. Another recording was included in 2001 on his and Ellen Mitchells Musical Tradition anthology Have a Drop Mair. Rod Stradling noted:
Kevin: An excellent version of The Outlandish Knight from the singing of Corney McDaid, of Inishowen, Co Donegal. Corney sang this song to me at a singing session in the Excelsior Bar, Buncrana.
As The Outlandish Knight, not to mention a host of other titles, this ballad is exceptionally well-known all over the Anglophone world; Roud has 578 examples cited. It was frequently found in England and Scotland, but less so in Ireland; indeed it has only been recorded twice from the Irish oral tradition. The only instance of the ballad under this present title was collected from Corney McDaid of Cockhill, Co Donegal, by Jimmy McBride and Jim McFarland. Among vast range of titles used, many of the Irish ones and quite a lot of the older ones, include the name of May Colvin (as in May Colven in Child or May Colvine and Fause Sir John in Bronson)—one may assume the Corney's Michalín is derived from her.
Steeleye Span's recorded this song with the title The Elf-Knight in 1996 for their album Time. A live recording from St. David's Hall, Cardiff on 6 December 1994 was released on their 25th anniversary tour video, 25 Live. Another live recording from The Forum, London on 2 September 1995 was released on the CD The Journey. They noted on the original album:
A simple but vivid story, this ballad evokes many powerful images—a hazy afternoon in late June when the roses are full blown—Lady Isabel sitting alone in a castle room, with a shaft of sunlight playing on the tapestry that she is weaving—somewhere out there, beyond this world and the “fields we know,” the elf-knight sits, arrogant, dark and brooding. He blows his horn and enchants her—she breathes a wish for him—in an instant he has broken through the barrier—two worlds collide, reality and fantasy, good and evil …
Moira Craig sang May Colvin on her 2000 album On ae Bonny Day. She noted:
The version I originally found of this said it was “an old ballad adapted for singing”. I realised it was a version of the Outlandish Knight despite having no cat or parrot. I then discovered a much fuller version in a little book called Bibliotheca Curiosa. I have added a few more verses from this that I hadn't come across before. (Still no cat or parrot!). This is also known as Lady Isobel and the Elf Knight.
John Spiers and Jon Boden recorded The Outlandish Knight with Martin Carthy's melody from Shearwater for their 2003 duo album Bellow, and snag it with Bellowhead in 2006 on their CD Burlesque. And Jon Boden sang it unaccompanied as the 3 May 2011 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day. They noted on the first CD:
The first of two songs [besides Brown Adam] on the album that owe their melody to the great Martin Carthy. A cautionary tale—remember girls if a strange bloke playing the trumpet jumps through your window in the middle of the night and asks you out on a date—just say no.
Brian Peters sang The Outlandish Knight in 2003 on his CD Different Tongues.
Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman sang this ballad as The Willow Tree in 2003 on their album 2.. They recorded it again for their 2020 album On Reflection.
Cara took a version of this ballad called False Sir John from B.H. Bronson's The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads, changed the verses somewhat and wrote a new melody. They recorded it as Sir John for their 2004 CD, In Colour.
Pete Coe sang The Outlandish Knight in 2004 on his CD In Paper Houses. He noted:
I first heard Fred Jordan sing his version of this ballad in the '60s and I always asked him to sing it for me. This version was collected by Frank Kidson from Charles Lolley and I eventually got to sing it to Fred. There are related stories and versions of this tale found throughout Asia and Europe and the earliest illustration dates back to 300 BC.
Chris Foster sang The False Hearted Knight in 2004 on his Tradition Bearers CD Jewels.
Roger Grimes sang The Outlandish Knight, one of the songs sung at the Golden Fleece in Stroud in the early 2000s, on the Musical Traditions anthology Songs from the Golden Fleece, published in 2005. The actual recording was made in Rod and Danny Stradling's kitchen to prevent intrusions of staff, other customers and noise from the bars.
Chris Bartram sang Six Pretty Maids in 1998 on his and Keith Holloway's WildGoose CD From the Vale. He noted:
Travelling around the pubs with my fiddle in the 1960s produced some interesting results. Sometimes it was literally, “Thanks very much, but would you leave now,” or else people would start to sing! It was one night in Uffington, I forgot in which pub, when everything was just right and somebody sang Six Pretty Maids. The following morning was still in my head and it's been there ever since.
Cath and Phil Tyler sang Castle by the Sea in 2009 on their album The Hind Wheels of Bad Luck.
Rosie Hood sang The Outlandish Knight in 2011 on her eponymous EP Rosie Hood. She used the verses collected from the singing of Edward Warren, South Marston, Wiltshire, by Alfred Williams, who reported that the song was “very popular throughout the Thames Valley.”
Alasdair Roberts sang False Lover John in 2011 on Concerto Caledonia's CD Revenge of the Folksingers, giving Kenin Mitchell's recording as his source.
Andy Turner learned The Outlandish Knight from Fred Hamer's book Garners Gay. He sang it as the 4 March 2012 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week.
Gavin Davenport sang Castle by the Sea in 2013 on his Haystack CD The Bone Orchard. He noted:
I learned this from Cath Tyler, and this distressingly cheerful serial killer ballad comes from the singing of Lena Bourke Fish via the Frank & Anne Warner Collection. It's a short, chirpy version of The Outlandish Knight.
Lauren McCormick sang this ballad as Lady Isobel in 2012 on her WildGoose CD On Bluestockings.
Kate Rusby sang The Elfin Knight in 2014 on her CD Ghost. She also wrote a similarly-themed song with the same name, The Elfin Knight, which she sang on her 2005 CD The Girl Who Couldn't Fly, on her 2008 EP Who Knows Where the Time Goes?, and on her 2012 anniversary album Twenty.
Tim Eriksen sang Castle by the Sea in 2015 on his and Eliza Carthy's Navigator CD Bottle. He noted:
This comes from Lena Bourne Fish of East Jaffray, New Hampshire, who knew more old songs that just about anyone and published her own, hand typed, fanzine, containing recipes, aphorisms and songs, including gems of her own composition like Take an Aspirin, a sardonic take on novel and simplistic answers offered for the world's persistent problems. Not a lot of castle around Jaffray, as far as I've seen, but the song rings true nevertheless.
Alice Jones sang The Castle by the Sea on her 2016 CD Poor Strange Girl. She noted:
This is another song from the Frank and Anne Warner book. It was collected from Lena Bourne Fish in 1940. I love this song because the woman gains the upper hand!
Will Noble sang The Outlandish Knight on his 2017 Veteran CD It's Gritstone for Me. Brian Peters and John Howson noted:
An old ballad (Child 4) very popular with English traditional singers over many years. Will had it from Fred Jordan, who encouraged his singing and became a cherished friend: “I spent a lot of time with Fred ad various events and heard him sing it so many times that I found I knew it.” Those with fond memories of the Shropshire man's rendition of the ballad will enjoy the moment at which Will channels Fred's characteristic aside!
Rachael McShane sang Lady Isabel in 2018 on her Topic album with The Cartographers, When All Is Still. She noted:
A version of The Outlandish Knight (which I always loved playing in Bellowhead), Lady Isabel is a song about a serial killer who gets all he deserves in the end.
I found this version in Alan Lomax's The Folk Songs of North America. There was much discussion when we arranged this song about whether to keep the parrot verses. Matthew [Ord] was initially anti-parrot but in the end the parrot prevailed, after all how often do you find a song that ends in the bribery of a sentient parrot?
The Askew Sisters sang Castle by the Sea on their 2019 CD Enclosure. They noted:
We love the text of this unusual version of Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight for its striking and wild imagery, which echoes the darkness of the woman's plight in the song. It was collected by Frank and Anne Warner from Lena Bourne Fish in East Jaffrey, New Hampshire in 1940 [VWML RoudFS/S140510] , when she was in her sixties. Lena (often known as Grammy Fish), had inherited an immense song repertoire that had been kept in her family for more than two hundred years. It’s not uncommon for dark ballads to have unexpectedly jolly tunes; we experimented with setting this one to a more modal melody, but it firmly wanted to stick with the traditional tune, so we stopped messing with it and let it be!
Kirsty Merryn sang The Outlandish Knight in 2020 on her album Our Bright Night.
Rachel Newton sang The Early Morning on her 2020 album To the Awe. She noted:
Lyrics based on the ballad The False-Hearted Knight, a variation of Child ballad #4 Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight from Barry, Eckstorm and Smyth's collection British Ballads from Maine, sung by Mrs. A.W. (Barry) Lindenberg, Shirley, Mass, 1922.
Lyrics
A.L. Lloyd sings The Outlandish Knight | Norma Waterson sings The Outlandish Knight |
---|---|
An outlandish knight from the north lands came, |
Well, an outlandish knight from the northern lands came, |
“Go fetch me some of your father's gold, | |
She's fetched him some of her father's gold, | |
Well, she mounted on her lily-white horse, |
Then she's mounted on her milk-white steed, |
He says, “Unlight, unlight, my little Polly, |
“Light down, light down, my pretty fair maid, |
“Pull off, pull off your silken gown, | |
She said, “Go get a sickle to crop the thistle |
“Go get me a sickle to crop off the thistle |
So He got a sickle to crop the thistle |
He's got the sickle to crop off the thistle |
Sometimes he sank, sometimes he swam, | |
“Lie there, lie there, you false-hearted man, | |
Then she mounted on her lily-white horse, |
She's mounted on her milk-white steed, |
Now the parrot being in the window so high; |
But the parrot was up in his window so high; |
“Don't prittle, don't prattle, my pretty Polly, |
“Don't prittle, don't prattle, my pretty Polly, |
Now the master being in the bedroom so high, |
But her father was up in the bedroom so high, |
“There came an old cat on the top of my cage, |
“Oh, there came an old cat in my window high, |
Martin Carthy sings The Outlandish Knight | Norma Waterson sings The Outlandish Knight |
Lady Margaret she sits in her bower sewing, |
Well, an outlandish knight from the northern lands came, |
“Oh would your lord would give to me rest, | |
Now the lady she had these words scarce spoken, | |
“Oh strange it is, oh strange, young woman, | |
“Go get you gold from your father's table, |
“Go fetch me some of your father's gold, |
She's fetched him some of her father's gold, | |
Now she's mounted her up on the black, black horse, |
Then she's mounted on her milk-white steed, |
“Light down, light down off your horse, ” he cries, |
“Light down, light down my pretty fair maid, |
“Take off, take off all your clothes,” he cries, |
“Pull off, pull off your silken gown, |
“Light down, light down off your horse,” she cries, |
“Go get me a sickle to crop off the thistle |
So he's lighted him down off his horse so high, |
He's got the sickle to crop off the thistle |
Sometimes he sank, sometimes he swam, |
Sometimes he sank, sometimes he swam, |
“Lie there, lie there, o you false young man, |
“Lie there, lie there, you false-hearted man, |
So she's mounted her up on the black, black horse, |
She's mounted on her milk-white steed, |
And a parrot sitting up at his window so high, |
But the parrot was up in his window so high; |
“Don't you prittle, don't you prattle, o my pretty Polly, |
“Don't prittle, don't prattle, my pretty Polly, |
And her father sitting up at his window so high, |
But her father was up in the bedroom so high, |
“Oh there come a cat to my window so high, |
“Oh, there came an old cat in my window high, |
Shirley Collins sings The Outlandish Knight | Nic Jones sings The Outlandish Knight |
And he's followed her up, he's followed her down, | |
An outlandish knight from the north lands came, |
“Rise up, rise up, my pretty Polly, |
“Go fetch me some of your father's gold, |
“Go fetch you a bag of your father's gold, |
So she rode away on their milk-white steed, |
So she's lit upon her nimble-going brown |
“Unlight, unlight, my pretty little girl, |
“Light you down, light you down, my pretty Polly, |
“But first take off your gown of silk, |
“And pull off, pull off your fine gay clothes, |
“Turn around, turn around, you false young man, |
“Then you get a sickle and you cut down the nettles |
So as he turned himself around, |
So he's got a sickle and he's cut down the nettles |
“Lie there, lie there you false young man, |
“Lie there, lie there me false young man, |
So she mounted on the lily-white horse, |
So she's lit upon her nimble going brown, |
Now the parrot being up in the window so high, | |
“Don't prittle, don't prattle my pretty Polly, |
“Hush up, hush up me pretty Polly bird, |
Now her father being up in his bedroom so high, |
But then up and spoke a fine young man |
“There come an old cat on the top of my cage, |
“Oh there's two black cats at me cage and door, And he's followed her up, he's followed her down, |
Frankie Armstrong sings The Outlandish Knight | Rosie Hood sings The Outlandish Knight |
An outlandish knight from the north lands came |
An outlandish knight from the north lands came |
“Come fetch me some of your father's gold |
“Go fetch me some of your father's gold |
I fetched him some of my father's gold | |
He mounted on the milk white steed |
I mounted on my milk white steed, |
“Light off, light off your steed,” he said, |
“Light off, light off thy milk-white steed |
“Pull off, pull off thy silken gown, | |
“Pull off, pull off thy silken stays, | |
“Take off, take off your Holland smock |
“Pull off, pull off thy Holland smock |
“If I must take off my Holland smock |
“If I'm to take off my Holland smock |
So he's turned his face away from her, |
He turned his back upon me there, |
Well he swam high and he swam low |
He floated high and he floated low |
“Lie there, lie there you false hearted man, |
“Lie there, lie there you false hearted man, |
She's mounted on the milk white steed |
I mounted on my milk white steed |
The parrot being up in the window so high |
The parrot was perched high up in his cage, |
“Don't prittle, don't prattle, my pretty Polly, |
“Don't prittle nor prattle, my pretty parrot, |
The king being sat in the window so high, |
My father being up in his chamber so high, |
“It's no laughing matter,” the parrot he said, |
“O master, O master,” replied the old parrot, |
“Well done, well done, my pretty Polly, |
“Well turned, well turned, my pretty poll parrot, |
Cyril Tawney sings The Outlandish Knight | |
There was a rich nobleman I've heard tell She went into her father's stable “Jump off! Jump off! I pray,” he said, “Pull off, pull off, thy silken smock “Take up thy sickle and cut the nettle, He took the sickle and cut the nettle “O help! O help! my fair pretty maid, “Lie there, lie there! thou false hearted knave, Every leaf was oppress'd and she heard no sound, And she mounted her on her milk-white steed “O where have you been, my fair pretty queen?” “O hush! and O hush! my pretty parrot, Then up and spake her father dear, “The cat came to my own cage-door “Well turn'd, well turn'd my pretty parrot |
Steeleye Span sing The Elf-Knight
The elf-knight sits on yonder hill,
Fine flowers in the valley.
He blows his horn both loud and shrill,
As the rose is blown.
He blows it east, he blows it west,
Fine flowers in the valley.
He blows it where he liketh best,
As the rose is blown.
Lady Isabel sits a-sewing
When she heard the elf-knight's horn a-blowing.
“Would I had that horn a-blowing
And yon elf-knight for to sleep in my bosom.”
Scarcely had she these words spoken
When in at the window the elf-knight's broken.
“It's a very strange matter, fair maid,” said he,
“I cannot blow my horn, but you call on me.”
“But will you go to the greenwood side?
If you will not go, I'll cause you to ride.”
He leapt on his horse and she on another
And they rode on to the greenwood together.
“Light down, light down, Isabel,” said he,
“For we're come to the place where you are to die.”
“It's seven kings daughters here have I slain
And you shall be the eighth of them.”
“Sit down a-while, lay your head on my knee
That we may rest before I die.”
She stroked him so fast the nearer he did creep,
And with a small charm she's lulled him to sleep.
With his own sword-belt, so fast she's bound him,
With his own dagger so sore she's stabbed him.
“If seven kings daughters here have you slain,
Then lie you here, a husband to them all.”
Tim Eriksen sing Castle by the Sea
“Arise, arise, my lady fair,
For you my bride shall be.
And we will dwell in my sylvan bower
In a castle by the sea.
“Come bring along your marriage fee
That you can claim today,
And also bring your swiftest steed,
The milk white and the grey.”
The lady mounted her white steed,
He rode the turban grey,
They took the path by the wild sea shore
Or so I've heard them say.
But when they got to the castle high
It looked so black and cold,
She wished she'd stayed in Boston town
With her ten thousand pounds of gold.
“Lie down, lie down my pretty fair maid,
My bride you'll never be!
For it's six fair maidens I've drowned here
And the seventh you shall be.
“Take off, take off that scarlet robe
And lay it down by me,
For it is too rich and costly
To rot in the briny sea.”
“Oh then turn your face to the wild seashore
And your back to yonder's tree
For it is a disgrace for any man
An unclothed woman to see.”
So he turned his face to the wild seashore
And his back to yonder's tree.
This lady took him in her arms
And flung him into the sea.
“Lie there, lie there you false young man
And drown in the place of me!
If it's six fair maidens you've drowned here,
Go keep them company.”
She mounted on her milk white steed
And led the turban grey.
She rode till she came to Boston town,
Two hours before it was day.
Acknowledgements and Links
Transcription from Martin Carthy's singing by Garry Gillard and from Cyril Tawney's and Norma Waterson's singing by Roberto Campo with help from the Mudcat Café.