Hi,

The first excerpt is from the novel: "Women, Or, Pour Et Contre: A Tale," page 26 by Charles Robert Maturin - 1818. Set in the Dublin area by Maturin (1782-1824), an Irish clergyman and writer of gothic plays and novels who lived in Dublin, the two Irish stanzas predate the (assumed Scottish) version published by Motherwell(Child A) in 1827.

The version from Motherwell was sung by Mary MacQueen (Storie) b. 1803 in Kilbirnie (Aryshire) Scotland. Her father, Osbourne MacQueen, was from County Down, Ireland-- born about 1781 (Son of James and Janet (Stevens) McQueen). Could Mary's version be Irish from her father? Her mother was from Kilbirnie and Mary was born there so naturally she would sing in Scots dialect. Her version was given by Crawfurd to Motherwell and Motherwell made few changes to Mary's text (see Lyle's transcript below) which was published without attribution in his "Minstrelsy: ancient and modern" in 1827.

A number of versions from the US are directly taken from Irish sources. Barry prints the first Irish text in 1911:

THE FALSE KNIGHT UPON THE ROAD (Child, 3) Sung before 1870, in Fort Kent, Me., by a French girl who could speak very little English, as learned from an illiterate Irish family. From "The False Knight upon the Road," A, Folk-Songs of the North Atlantic States recollected by M. L. F., Portland, Me., Oct. 16, 1907.

    1. "What have you in your bottle, my dear little lad?"
         Quo the fol fol Fly on the road,
       "I have some milk for myself for to drink!"
         Said the child, who was seven years old.

In this text the words "fol fol Fly" are very likely corrupted from "foul, foul Fiend;" that is, the Devil. Fragmentary as it is, the text is interesting as attesting the survival, in America, of a ballad supposed to be long extinct, and, furthermore, as retaining a form of the theme more primitive than that of Motherwell's version.

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Here is Mary MacQueen's version. Although an Irish source (her father) is speculation, it's possible:

Andrew Crawfurd's Collection of Ballads and Songs - Page 77 by E. B. Lyle- 1975 (his footnotes):

Motherwell does not credit Mrs Storie with the text of The Fause Knight upon the Road that he printed in his introduction but the Crawfurd MSS indicate that it was derived from her. The ten detached verses linked with the music were also, it seems, from Mrs Storie. As three of these are the same as full texts, this gives seven additional items from this singer. The fourteen items from Mrs Storie which were included by Motherwell in his Minstrelsy and Ballad Book were available to Child who printed all of them apart from The Deil's Wowing (41 The Deil's Courtship in the present collection) which fell outside his compass.

THE FAUSE KNICHT from Mary Macqueen (Mrs Storie) Crawfurd's Collection:

1 O whar are ye gaun quo[1] the fause knicht upon the road
I'm gawn to the skeul quo the wee boy and still he stood

2 What is that upon your back quo the fause knicht upon the rade
Atweel[2] it is my books quo the wee boy and still he stood

3 What's that ye hae gotten in your arm quo the fause knicht upon
Atweel it is my peat[3] quo the wee boy and still he stood the road

4 Wha's aught they sheep[4] quo the fause knicht upon the road
They are mine an my mother's quo the wee boy and still he stood

5 How money of them are mine quo the fause knicht upon the road
Aw them that hae blue tails quo the wee boy and still he stood

6 O I wish ye were on yon tree quo the fause knicht upon the road
And a guid ladder under me quo the wee boy and still he stood

7 And the ladder for to break quo the fause knicht upon the road
And you for to faw down quo the wee boy and still he stood

8 I wish ye were in yon sea quo the fause knicht upon the road
And a gude bottom[5] under me quo the wee boy and still he stood

9 And the bottom for to break quo the fause knicht upon the road
And you for to be drowned quo the wee boy and still he stood

1 quo said
2 atweel certainly, sure
3 peat piece of peat (for use on the schoolroom fire)
4 wha's aught they sheep "whose are these sheep"
8 bottom ship

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Richie