Elfin Knight, The [Child 2]
DESCRIPTION: A man (sometimes an "Elfin" knight) and a woman exchange tasks. He offers to marry her if she performs his (impossible) tasks; she shows how she feels by making equally unperformable requests
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1673 (broadside)
KEYWORDS: courting magic bargaining dialog paradox tasks
FOUND IN: Britain(England(All),Scotland(Aber)) US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So,SW) Canada(Newf,West) Ireland
REFERENCES (41 citations):
Child 2, "The Elfin Knight" (13 texts)
Bronson 2, "The Elfin Knight" (56 versions plus 6 in addenda)
Greig #100, pp. 1-2, "The Elfin Knight" (3 texts)
GreigDuncan2 329, "The Elfin Knight" (7 texts, 2 tunes) {A=Bronson's #1, B=#50}
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 3-11, "The Elfin Knight" (4 texts plus a fragment, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #3, #23}
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 51-78, "The Elfin Knight" (12 texts plus 3 fragments, not all from New England; 8 tunes; the "N" text appears to be "My Father Had an Acre of Land") {A=Bronson's #47C=Bronson's #6; F=Bronson's #45}
Belden, pp. 1-3, "The Elfin Kinght" (3 texts)
Randolph 1, "The Cambric Shirt" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #40}
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 13-15, "The Cambric Shirt" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 1A) {Bronson's #40}
Eddy 1, "The Elfin Knight" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #39, #43}
Gardner/Chickering 47, "A True Lover of Mine" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #38}
Davis-More 2, pp. 8-13, "The Elfin Knight" (3 texts, all short, one reconstructed)
BrownII 1, "The Elfin Knight" (1 text plus an edited excerpt and a fragment)
Chappell-FSRA 1, "The Cambric Shirt" (1 fragment)
Brewster 1, "The Elfin Knight" (4 texts plus a fragment, though the "D" text is not a conversation but a series of requests from the singer to his mother; it may be a related song)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 194-196, "Scarborough Fair" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #6}
Linscott, pp. 169-171, "Blow, Ye Winds, Blow or The Elfin Knight" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #2}
Leach, pp. 51-53, ""The Elfin Knight" (2 texts)
Peacock, pp. 6-7, "The Cambric Shirt" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Friedman, p. 7, "The Elfin Knight" (2 texts)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 138-139, "A True Lover of Mine" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #32}
FSCatskills 40, "Petticoat Lane" (1 text, 1 tune)
PBB 15, "The Elfin Knight" (1 text)
SharpAp 1 "The Elfin Knight" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #30, #48}
Sharp-100E 74, "Scarborough Fair" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #21}
Sharp/Karpeles-80E1, "The Lovers' Tasks (The Elfin Knight)" (1 slightly edited text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #30}
Niles 2, "The Elfin Knight" (3 texts, 3 tunes, all rather degenerate)
Lomax-FSNA 7, "Strawberry Lane" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #23, with some modifications}
Chase, pp. 112-113, "The Cambric Shirt" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 26 ,"The Elfin Knight" (1 text)
DBuchan 41, "The Elfin Knight" (1 text)
MacSeegTrav 1, "The Elfin Knight" (1 text, 1 tune)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 54-55, "Whittingham Fair" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #22, with key changed}
OLochlainn-More 99, "Rosemary Fair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 86, "Can you make me a cambric shirt" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #70, p. 79-80, "(Can you make me a cambric shirt)"
Darling-NAS, pp. 19-23, "The Elfin Knight," "The Elfin Knight," "Every Rose Grows Merry in Time," "Flim-A-Lim-A-Lee" (4 texts)
Silber-FSWB, p. 151, "Scarborough Fair" (1 text); p. 152, "Cambric Shirt" (1 text)
BBI, ZN821, "The elfin knight sits on yon hill"
DT 2, SCARFAIR*
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #312, "My Plaid Away" (1 excerpt)
Roud #12
RECORDINGS:
Sara Cleveland, "Every Rose Grows Merry in Time" (on SCleveland01) {Bronson's #34.1 in addenda}
Bob & Ron Copper, "An Acre of Land" (on FSB4)
Liz Jefferies, "Rosemary Lane" (on Voice15)
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "The Elfin Knight" (on SCMacCollSeeger01)
Thomas Moran, "Strawberry Lane (The Elfin Knight)" (on FSB4, FSBBAL1)
Lawrence Older, "Flim-A-Lim-A-Lee" (on LOlder01)
Anna Underhill, "The Elfin Knight" (on FineTimes)
Margaret Winters, "Cambric Shirt" (on JThomas01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "My Father Had an Acre of Land" (theme)
cf. "O'er the Hills and Far Away (I)" (floating lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Devil's Courtship
Rosemary and Thyme
The Wind Hath Blown My Plaid Away
My Father Gave Me an Acre of Ground
The Parsley Vine
The Shirt of Lace
Redio-Tedio
The Laird o' Elfin
Notes: The song "My Father Had an Acre of Land" is sometimes listed as a variant of this, but falsely. The basic point of Child #2 is the dialog making impossible demands; in "My Father Had an Acre of Land," the song simply boasts of impossible deeds
The now well-known refrain "Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" does not appear original to the song, but has been associated with it at least since 1784, when a version appeared in Gammer Gurton's Garland. - RBW
File: C002
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The Ballad Index Copyright $TrueYear by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.