Mystery folk story in which the murder-ballad is averted?
July 30, 2019 7:27 AM Subscribe
A friend is looking for an old folk tale or song (not sure which). It has elements of the murder ballad "Pretty Polly," but it's more complex.
Friend says:
There's an old folktale or folksong or something that basically runs
- woman tells her lover she's pregnant
- lover tells her to meet him beneath the tree at midnight and they'll run away together
- woman gets there early, finds a grave already dug, climbs the tree and hides
- lover shows up with a knife, gets impatient when she doesn't show up, leaves in a huff
- woman escapes and stops her lover (my recollection of how this was done is fuzzy; I have vague impressions of him being a fox and she sics the hounds on him, of her tricking him in to delivering his own sentence at a dinner party, etc., etc.)
Can anyone place it or give me a title or anything?
It's possible this is just a happier version of "Pretty Polly" blended with something else, or fleshed out into a story, or something. If you have any leads, let us know!
Friend says:
There's an old folktale or folksong or something that basically runs
- woman tells her lover she's pregnant
- lover tells her to meet him beneath the tree at midnight and they'll run away together
- woman gets there early, finds a grave already dug, climbs the tree and hides
- lover shows up with a knife, gets impatient when she doesn't show up, leaves in a huff
- woman escapes and stops her lover (my recollection of how this was done is fuzzy; I have vague impressions of him being a fox and she sics the hounds on him, of her tricking him in to delivering his own sentence at a dinner party, etc., etc.)
Can anyone place it or give me a title or anything?
It's possible this is just a happier version of "Pretty Polly" blended with something else, or fleshed out into a story, or something. If you have any leads, let us know!
Well it's a folk theme. Escape from a serial killer (or not.)
Sciatrix made a post on here in 2015 linking to I guess My Corpse is a Swan Now: Weird Folk Education which had a couple of songs in the playlist that could fit. Of course the playlist ain't extant any more but here's versions of Lady Isobel and the Elf Knight and here's versions of The Seventh Girl.
“Oh lie there, lie there, you false hearted man
Make your bed in the deep briny blue
For six pretty girls have you drownéd right here
But the seventh girl has drownéd you
Oh the seventh girl has drownéd you”
Such a great post and my introduction to Anais Mitchell, forever grateful for that.
posted by glasseyes at 12:52 PM on July 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
Sciatrix made a post on here in 2015 linking to I guess My Corpse is a Swan Now: Weird Folk Education which had a couple of songs in the playlist that could fit. Of course the playlist ain't extant any more but here's versions of Lady Isobel and the Elf Knight and here's versions of The Seventh Girl.
“Oh lie there, lie there, you false hearted man
Make your bed in the deep briny blue
For six pretty girls have you drownéd right here
But the seventh girl has drownéd you
Oh the seventh girl has drownéd you”
Such a great post and my introduction to Anais Mitchell, forever grateful for that.
posted by glasseyes at 12:52 PM on July 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
nonmae's suggestion is a good one. Here's a link to Household Tales with Other Traditional Remains: Collection in the Counties ...By Sidney Oldall Addy, and in particular "9.--The Girl Who Got Up the Tree."
You could also have a look through this list of tales similar to Bluebeard.
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:17 PM on July 30, 2019
You could also have a look through this list of tales similar to Bluebeard.
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:17 PM on July 30, 2019
Response by poster: These are all great answers, but it turns out that WCityMike got it in 5 minutes.
posted by wintersweet at 5:43 PM on July 30, 2019
posted by wintersweet at 5:43 PM on July 30, 2019
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"A girl who was leaving her master's service at a farm in the country told her sweetheart that she would meet him near a stile where they had met many times before. This stile was overhung by a tree. The girl got there before him and found a hole dug underneath the tree, and a pickaxe and spade lying by the side of the hole. She was much frightened at what she saw, and got up the tree..."
posted by nonane at 7:31 AM on July 30, 2019 [2 favorites]