Steve: yes, you did say 'probably' in both cases!

"A closer study of all the versions [of Child #1] that have this conclusion might throw up some interesting possibilities. I only have about 50 versions and many of these are just remnants… so it shouldn't take long to pull them out, unless you have already done this."

I haven't made a comprehensive study – my interest was mostly in constructing a singable version that included the Devil's appearance. However, what seems pretty clear from the British oral versions I've looked at (those that aren't just remnants), is that the mysterious knight who comes calling is a universal character, as are the three sisters who make him comfortable, and the last sister who gets either romantically or carnally involved with him (except in Child 1E, in which he addresses the riddles to all three sisters). The 15th century MS version does not open with any such scene-setting, so it looks as though, between the 15th and 17th century, someone created a ballad around the original riddles, in which the Devil disguises himself as an eligible male. This later became rationalised with the disappearance of the Devil, thus transformed into the romantic tale of Child 1A, and further bowdlerised in 1B with the disappearance of the stanza in which the third sister beds the knight.

A refrain involving "bent" or "bank" and "bonny broom" occurs in 1A, C, D, and E, all of which, barring A, have some reference to the Devil (in the case of D – which consists of riddles only – the reciter remarked that it described a conversation with the devil) . 1A (the 17th century broadside) is the oldest known example of this knight/sisters strain of the ballad, but if we accept that this strain began as a Devil ballad, that would push the time of its creation back before the broadside, to early 17th or possibly 16th century.

The North American versions include 'Ninety-Nine and Ninety', which is the one most often heard from American revival singers, most of whom have taken as their model the recording by Texas Gladden in which the line "I'll take you off to hell alive" (which belongs in this version as originally collected from Rill Martin) is omitted in favour of something more anodyne. Hence the incorrect assumption in some quareters that Child 1 lost its Devil in North America. The version collected by Gainer (see below) is clearly related to 'Ninety-Nine and Ninety' but the threat is more oblique. Neither of these includes the knight / sisters element, so either they lost it, or they derive from a different British strain. The other North American version, from Maine, is a highly poetic translation-of-a-translation of the D'Urfey broadside, and doesn't add anything to the picture.

I've also added the verses collected by Alfred Williams in Wiltshire, from 'Folksongs of the Upper Thames', which includes some of the most violent imagery to be found with this ballad. Neither of the two versions below occurs in Child or Bronson, so I thought it might be useful to paste them up here.


Child #1, from Blanche Kelley, Gilmer County West Virginia, date uncertain but maybe 1920s. Appeared in Patrick Gainer's (1975) Folksongs from the West Virginia Hills, posted to a previous Mudcat thread by Kent Davis, who mentioned that: "The word "peart" in the refrain is a dialect word meaning cheerful and becoming."

If you can't answer these questions to me,
O maid so peart and bonnie,
Then you'll be mine and go with me,
and you so peart and bonnie.

O what is higher than the tree?
O maid so peart and bonnie,
And what is deeper than the sea?
And you so peart and bonnie.

O what is louder than the horn?
O maid so peart and bonnie,
And what is earlier than the morn?
and you so peart and bonnie.

O heaven is higher than the tree,
As I am peart and bonnie,
And hell is deeper than the sea,
And I am peart and bonnie.

O thunder is louder than the horn,
As I am peart and bonnie,
And sin is earlier than the morn,
And I am peart and bonnie.


Child #1, from Folksongs of the Upper Thames, Alfred Williams (1923):

There was a knight came to the gate,
He knocked high, he knocked late.

Chorus

Bow down, bow down, sweetheart, and a bonny lass,
And all things shall go well.

If thou canst answer me three times three,
In ten thousand pieces I'll tear thee.

Verse 2

What is louder than a horn?
What is sharper than a thorn?
What is whiter than milk?
What is softer than silk?
What is higher than a tree?
What is deeper than the sea?

Chorus

Verse 3

Thunder's louder than a horn,
Hunger's sharper than a thorn.
Snow is whiter than milk,
Down is softer than silk.
Heaven is higher than a tree,
And hell is deeper than the sea.

Chorus

Then he clapped his wings, and aloud did cry,
And a flame of fire he flew away.