Well, it seems I made a huge mistake in interpretation. In all of Child's versions it is the Lady, not Lord Henry, who is asking the bird to "alight on [her] right knee". It seems that the bird (a talking parrot) witnessed the murder and is threatening to reveal the secret, so she is trying to get the bird to fly down so she can kill him. But the bird is on to her and refuses.

What threw me off is that in the version on the Anthology there's no middle stanza saying that the bird witnessed the crime. After Henry Lee is stabbed and thrown in the well, the very next line is: "Fly down, fly down you little bird. . . " I just assumed the speaker there is Henry Lee (fly *down* i.e. into the well).

So the whole stanza is:

"'Fly down, fly down you little bird and alight on my right knee. Your cage will be the finest gold with door of ivory.' 'I can't fly down, I won't fly down and alight on your right knee. A girl who would murder her own true love would kill a little bird like me.'"

Kinda makes you see how variants get created, huh? I have all the advantages of a recording of the song and I still managed to change the whole story. Imagine if I had just learned it by ear.

Thanks for the lead Joe. This has been fun!

Bryant