Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight

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Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight (Roud 21, Child 4) is the English common name representative of a very large class of European ballads. The English variants are known as The Gowans sae gay, Aye as the Gowans grow gay, The Water o Wearie's Well, May Colvin or False Sir John, May Collin (or) May Collean, Fause Sir John and May Colvin, The Outlandish Knight and The False Knight Outwitted. The subject matter is frequently associated with the genre of the Halewyn legends circulating in Europe. The general plot goes as follows:

Contents

[edit] Plot

An "Elf-Knight" blows a magic horn (or in the variations sings a magic song), causing a lady (sometimes described as a king's daughter) to profess love to him:

If I had yon horn that I hear blawing,
And you elf-knight to sleep in my bosom.[1]

The knight carries the lady off to a deep wood or seaside, where he tells her that he has killed seven (or some large number) other women and plans to do the same to her (in many European versions it is made explicit that he proposes to "dishonor" her as well).

The lady or princess (Isabel, May) offers to de-louse the knight, or tells him to "lay your head upon my knee", to which he agrees (on the condition that should he fall asleep, she shall not harm him while he sleeps). She sings a magic song:

Wi a sma charm she lulld him fast asleep

While he sleeps, she ties him up, then wakes the elf and beheads him:

If seven king's-daughters here ye hae slain,
Lye ye here, a husband to them a.[2]

[edit] Context

Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight is unusual in the English ballad tradition in that the lady saves herself rather than depending on her father, brothers, or fiancee to defend her. Several variations of the ballad were classified by Child that feature a "Lord" instead of an elf knight. The Lady Isabel series resembles the Dutch ballad Heer Halewijn in many respects. Scholars think they all stem from Germanic songs and folklore of the Nix water spirit who lures women to their doom with music, in addition to early Bluebeard-type legends circulating in Europe. [3]

Another related ballad, Hind Etin (Child Ballad #41), also begins with abduction and rape by an elf, but ends with the pair falling in love and living happily together.

The variations of the ballad vary on some of the key characters and details:

Lady Isabel variants per Child[4] Heroine Villain # Dead Women Setting Notes & Source(s)
The Gowans sae gay or Aye as the Gowans grow gay Lady Isabel Elf-Knight 7 Greenwood [5]
The Water o Wearie's Well King's daughter Luppen 7 Wearie's Well [6]
May Colvin or May Colvin, or False Sir John May Colvin False Sir John 7 Sea-side year 1776 [7]
May Collin , May Collean or Fause Sir John and May Colvin May Collin Sir John, bloody knight 8 Bunion Bay year 1823 [8]
The Outlandish Knight Lady Outlandish knight 6 Sea-side Note: This version is "a modernized version." [9]
The False Knight Outwitted Lady Knight 6 River-side [10]
Comparable Song:
Heer Halewijn (Dutch) Princess Halewijn many Forest & gallowfield 13th century [11]

[edit] Modern Adaptations

Broadside Electric included it as False Sir John on the 1993 album Black-edged Visiting Card.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Per variant 1, The Gowans sae Gay. "Scottish Ballads Online".
  2. ^ Per variant 1, The Gowans sae Gay. "Scottish Ballads Online".
  3. ^ Meijer 1971:35.
  4. ^ "Scottish Ballads Online"
  5. ^ Buchan's Ballads I:22 of N. Scotland; Motherwell's MS p. 563
  6. ^ Buchan's Ballads of the N. of Scotland II:80; Motherwell's MS, Harris MS 19
  7. ^ Herd's MSS I:166; Herd's Ancient & Modern Scottish Songs 1776:193, Motherwell's Minstrelsy p67
  8. ^ Sharpe's Ballad Book 1823, 17:45; Buchan's Ballads of N. Scotland II:45
  9. ^ "Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England" by Dixon:74.
  10. ^ Roxburghe Ballads, III:449
  11. ^ compared to Outlandish Knight and May Colvin or False Sir John by Meijer 1971:35
  • Meijer, Reinder. Literature of the Low Countries: A Short History of Dutch Literature in the Netherlands and Belgium. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1971, page 35.
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