This one is fascinating to me! In the early 60's we collected a version of "The False Knight Upon the Road" from a singer named Alan Kelly in New Brunswick. When he first sang it for us, he sang "The fol, fol, folly on the road." We were excited to find a version of the ballad, as we had never collected one before, and we told Helen Creighton about Alan having it in his English-language repertoire (he sang songs from both the Irish and French traditions of the area). The next year, we returned to make a serious recording of Alan's songs, and found that he had been told that "fol, fol, folly" was a corruption of "false knight on the road," and as a result he had changed the words he had always known in order to conform to what he'd been told was correct! The result was a recording with a confused text, as Alan stumbled over his new words. I've often used this as an example of what not to do as a collector.

So, thank you for pointing me toward a "fly" version from which "folly" could easily have been derived. Now I'll have to go check Bronson, etc. What do you think, Bruce?

Sandy