"The Elfin Knight" (Roud 12 , Child 2) is a traditional Scottish folk ballad of which there are many versions, all dealing with supernatural occurrences, and the commission to perform impossible tasks. [1] The ballad has been collected in different parts of England, Scotland, Ireland, the US, and Canada. [2] As is the case with most traditional folk songs, there have been countless completely different versions recorded of the same ballad. The first broadside version was printed before 1674, and the roots of the song may be considerably older.
In the oldest extant version of this ballad (circa 1600-1650), an elf is invoked by the wish of a young woman who hears his horn blowing, and he appears at her side and proposes tasks which the lady must perform in order to be accepted as his lover. The first verse usually opens with the introduction of the title character:
The elphin knight sits on yon hill,
Blaw, blaw, blaw, wind blaw.
He blaws his horn both lewd and shril.
The wind hath blown my plaid awa.
(Note that this verse appears to be taken directly from "Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight", Child Ballad #4; in this ballad, the horn is magic and arouses desire in the hearer. [3] )
Meanwhile, a maid lies in bed, wishing she could marry the knight. Upon her speaking these words, the knight appears, telling her he will marry her if she will perform numerous tasks, all impossible.
"For thou must shape a sark [4] to me,
Without any cut or heme," quoth he.
She promptly responds with her own list of impossible tasks.
'The Fairy Knight'
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 296.
1 THE Elfin knight stands on yon hill,
Blaw, blaw, blaw winds, blaw
Blawing his horn loud and shrill.
And the wind has blawin my plaid awa
2 'If I had yon horn in my kist,
Blaw, blaw, blaw winds, blaw
And the bonny laddie here that I luve best!
And the wind has blawin my plaid awa
3 'Ye maun make me a fine Holland sark,
Blaw, blaw, blaw winds, blaw
Without ony stitching or needle wark.
And the wind has blawin my plaid awa
4 'And ye maun wash it in yonder well,
Blaw, blaw, blaw winds, blaw
Where the dew never wat, nor the rain ever fell.
And the wind has blawin my plaid awa
5 'Now sin ye've askd some things o me,
Blaw, blaw, blaw winds, blaw
It 's right I ask as mony o thee.
And the wind has blawin my plaid awa
6 'My father he askd me an acre o land,
Blaw, blaw, blaw winds, blaw
Between the saut sea and the strand.
And the wind has blawin my plaid awa
7 'And ye maun plow 't wi your blawing horn,
Blaw, blaw, blaw winds, blaw
And ye maun saw 't wi pepper corn.
And the wind has blawin my plaid awa
8 'When ye've dune, and finishd your wark,
Blaw, blaw, blaw winds, blaw
Ye'll come to me, luve, and get your sark.'
And the wind has blawin my plaid awa
The countering of impossible tasks with other impossible tasks is a common motif in the folktale Aarne–Thompson type 875, the Clever Girl, [5] a fairy tale making use of this motif is The Wise Little Girl .
In Celtic folklore, in common with many other European traditions, impossible tasks are often given to a suitor as part of a wedding trial - a well known example would be Culhwch and Olwen from Welsh Brittonic tradition where the 40 impossible tasks are set by the father-in-law (in this case the giant Ysbadadden Pen Cawr).
This ballad was one of 25 traditional works included in Ballads Weird and Wonderful which was published by John Lane's The Bodley Head in 1912 and illustrated by Vernon Hill. [6]
The song "Scarborough Fair" is considered a relatively recent variant of "The Elfin Knight", and both are officially classified as the same ballad. [7] Mark Anderson (1874-1953), a retired lead-miner from either Newbiggin-by-the-Sea [8] or Middleton-in-Teesdale, [9] County Durham, England, sang "Scarborough Fair" to Ewan MacColl in 1947. Martin Carthy learnt the song from MacColl's songbook, and included it on his eponymous debut album in 1965. He taught the song to Paul Simon the same year, and Simon & Garfunkel released their own version, which was hugely successful. [10] Prior to this, Bob Dylan used Martin Carthy's version as the basis of his song "Girl from the North Country" from his second album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963).
A similar variant is "Whittingham Fair", a song that was popular in the north and west of Northumberland, [11] not far from Mark Anderson's County Durham. There are also several American variants, which differ greatly, among them "My Father Had an Acre of Land", "The Parsley Vine", and "The Shirt of Lace". Several recent Scottish recordings have preserved the "blaw winds blaw" refrain from the earliest written versions of the ballad.
A novel by Nancy Werlin, Impossible (Penguin/Dial, 2008), was inspired by the song.
Following are some of the notable recordings of the ballad, including the artists, titles, albums, and years:
| Artist | Title | Album | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick | "Scarborough Fair" | Martin Carthy | 1965 |
| Joel Frederiksen | "Whittingham Fair (The Elfin Knight)" "The Lovers' Tasks (The Elfin Knight)" "Scarborough Faire (The Elfin Knight)" | The Elfin Knight: Ballads and Dances | 2007 |
| Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger | "The Elfin Knight (Child #2)" | Classic Scots Ballads: Tradition Years | 1959 |
| Omnia | "The Elven Lover" | Alive! | 2007 |
| Kate Rusby | "Elfin Knight" | The Girl Who Couldn't Fly | 2005 |
| BOANN | "Elfin Knight" | Old Celtic & Nordic Ballads | 2012 |
"Scarborough Fair" is a traditional English ballad. The song lists a number of impossible tasks given to a former lover who lives in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. The "Scarborough/Whittingham Fair" variant was most common in Yorkshire and Northumbria, where it was sung to various melodies, often using Dorian mode, with refrains resembling "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" and "Then she'll be a true love of mine." It appears in Traditional Tunes by Frank Kidson published in 1891, who claims to have collected it from Whitby.
"The Three Ravens" is an English folk ballad, printed in the song book Melismata compiled by Thomas Ravenscroft and published in 1611, but it is perhaps older than that. Newer versions were recorded right up through the 19th century. Francis James Child recorded several versions in his Child Ballads.
"The Wife of Usher's Well" is a traditional ballad, catalogued as Child Ballad 79 and number 196 in the Roud Folk Song Index. An incomplete version appeared in Sir Walter Scott's "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border" (1802). It is composed of three fragments. They were notated from an old woman in West Lothian. The Scottish tune is quite different from the English tune, and America produced yet another tune. William Motherwell also printed a version in "Minstrelsy Ancient and Modern" (1827). Cecil Sharp collected songs from Britain but had to go the Appalachian Mountains to locate this ballad. He found 8 versions and 9 fragments. In the first half of the twentieth century many more versions were collected in America.
"Highland Laddie", also known as "Hielan' Laddie", is the name of a Scottish popular folk tune "If Thou'lt Play Me Fair Play", but as with many old melodies various sets of words can be sung to it, of which Robert Burns's poem "Highland Laddie" is probably the best known. "If Thou'lt Play Me Fair Play" has been reworked several times since Burns set down his words, Donkey Riding being one variant.
"Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" is an old Scottish ballad dating from 1785 or earlier. It is Child Ballad #46, Roud 36. It is known by a number of titles, including "Lord Roslin's Daughter" and "The Laird of Rosslyn's Daughter".
"The Hundred Pipers" is a Scottish song and jig attributed to Carolina Nairne, Lady Nairne and popularised from 1852 onwards. It takes as its themes events during and after the Jacobite Rising of 1745.
"The Death of Queen Jane" is an English ballad that describes the events surrounding the death of a Queen Jane. It is catalogued by Francis James Child as Child #170. Some of the versions given are Scottish, in which the queen's name is Jeanie or Jeany.
Get Up and Bar the Door is a medieval Scots ballad about a battle of wills between a husband and wife. It is Child ballad 275. According to Child, it was first published by David Herd.
"Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" is the English common name representative of a very large class of European ballads.
"The Twa Sisters" is a traditional murder ballad, dating at least as far back as the mid 17th century. The song recounts the tale of a girl drowned by her jealous sister. At least 21 English variants exist under several names, including "Minnorie" or "Binnorie", "The Cruel Sister", "The Wind and Rain", "Dreadful Wind and Rain", "Two Sisters", "The Bonny Swans" and the "Bonnie Bows of London". The ballad was collected by renowned folklorist Francis J. Child as Child Ballad 10 and is also listed in the Roud Folk Song Index. Whilst the song is thought to originate somewhere around England or Scotland, extremely similar songs have been found throughout Europe, particularly in Scandinavia.
The Famous Flower of Serving-Men or The Lady turned Serving-Man is a traditional English language folk song and murder ballad. Child considered it as closely related to the ballad "The Lament of the Border Widow" or "The Border Widow's Lament".
"Unusually, it is possible to give a precise date and authorship to this ballad. It was written by the prolific balladeer, Laurence Price, and published in July 1656, under the title of The famous Flower of Serving-Men. Or, The Lady turn'd Serving-Man. It lasted in the mouths of ordinary people for three hundred years: what a tribute to the work of any writer, leave alone the obscure Laurence Price. Oral tradition, however, has made changes. The original has twenty-eight verses and a fairy-tale ending: “And then for fear of further strife, / he took Sweet William to be his Wife: / The like before was never seen, / A Serving-man to be a Queen”. – Roy Palmer, A Book of British Ballads
"Geordie" is an English language folk song concerning the trial of the eponymous hero whose lover pleads for his life. It is listed as Child ballad 209 and Number 90 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The ballad was traditionally sung across the English speaking world, particularly in England, Scotland and North America, and was performed with many different melodies and lyrics. In recent times, popular versions have been performed and recorded by numerous artists and groups in different languages, mostly inspired by Joan Baez's 1962 recording based on a traditional version from Somerset, England.
"The Lass of Roch Royal" is Child ballad number 76, existing in several variants.
"Fair Margaret and Sweet William" is a traditional English ballad which tells of two lovers, of whom either one or both die from heartbreak. Thomas Percy included it in his folio and said that it was quoted as early as 1611 in the Knight of the Burning Pestle. In the United States, variations of Fair Margaret have been regarded as folk song as early as 1823.
"The Broomfield Hill", "The Broomfield Wager" "The Merry Broomfield", "The Green Broomfield", "A Wager, a Wager", or "The West Country Wager" (Child 43, Roud 34) is a traditional English folk ballad.
"Riddles Wisely Expounded" is a traditional English song, dating at least to 1450. It is Child Ballad 1 and Roud 161, and exists in several variants. The first known tune was attached to it in 1719. The title "Riddles Wisely Expounded" was given by Francis James Child and seems derived from the seventeenth century broadside version "A Noble Riddle Wisely Expounded".
The False Knight Upon the Road is a British ballad, collected and published as Child ballad 3, Roud 20. It features a riddling exchange between a schoolboy and a "false knight," the devil in disguise. As to its provenance, it is presumed to not be much older than its first publication in 1824.
Fair Mary of Wallington or Fair Lady of Wallington is Child ballad 91 and number 59 in the Roud Folk Song Index. Child lists at least seven variants of the ballad. The first variant is titled "Fair Mary of Wallington", while another variant is titled "The Bonny Early of Livingston".
The (Bonnie) Rantin' Laddie or Lord Aboyne is a traditional Scottish folk ballad telling of the valiant rescue of his lover by a noble Highland lord.
"The Lochmaben Harper" or "The Blind Harper" is a traditional British Folk ballad and is one of the ballads collected by Francis Child in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1882–1898).
