The Fause Knight Upon the Road

The Fause Knight Upon the Road is a British ballad, collected and published as Child ballad 3, Roud 20. It features a riddling exchange between a schoolboy and a "false knight," the devil in disguise.[1]

Synopsis

Across numerous versions differing significantly in lyric content, the consistent themes are:[2]

  • The knight asks the boy where he is going, and what he is carrying (books).
  • He asks after the sheep, which belong to the boy and his mother, and how many belong to the knight—as many as have blue tails.
  • The knight may wish him in a tree, the boy to have a ladder, the knight to have it break, and so on.
  • Throughout any exchange, the boy is described as stood/standing fast/still. This appears to be the condition that will save him.

    Commentary

    The boy's ability to evade the devil may spring from the devil's inability to dumbfound him; gaining power over people by this means is a motif found in other folktales.[3]

    A Swedish variant features the little boy, but an old woman, presumably a witch, in the place of the knight.[3]

    Recordings and Settings

    Recordings

    • The Blue Velvet Band recorded this song as "The Knight Upon the Road" on Sweet Moments (1969).
    • Tim Hart and Maddy Prior recorded this song as "False Knight on the Road" on Summer Solstice (1971).
    • Steeleye Span recorded this song as "False Knight on the Road" on Please to See the King (1971) and Live at Last (1978).
    • The School of Scottish Studies issued three fragments sung by Bella Higgins, Duncan McPhee and Nellie MacGregor on The Muckle Sangs: Claasic Scots Ballads (1975).
    • Oysterband recorded this song on the CD The Oxford Girl & Other Stories (2008) and on the CD Single "This Is The Voice" (1999).
    • Jane Siberry recorded her own variant of the song on her 2000 album Hush. The song was retitled "False False Fly" and the boy protagonist recast as a girl.
    • Stephan Said recorded "The False Knight on the Road" and a version re-written as an anti-war anthem on the 2002 EP The Bell which included Pete Seeger and Tara Nevins.
    • Fleet Foxes recorded this song as the b-side to the 7" release of "Mykonos" in 2009. This version features different lyrics to the original.
    • Richard Thompson has performed a version of this song on recent tours.
    • Matt Ender issued an album Miles of Skye with this song titled "The False Fly".
    • Barry Gleeson issued an album Path across the ocean with this song titled "The false, false fly".
    • Gilmore & Roberts recorded an arrangement of this song on their 2012 album The Innocent Left. It was entitled "False Knight" and again recast the protagonist as a girl.
    • John Langstaff recorded a version of this song on Nottamun Town (EMI 1964, remaster 2003).

    Settings

    • Runa recorded this song as "The False Knight on the Road" on Current Affairs in 2014.
    • Set by Benjamin Britten in his Eight Folk Song Arrangements (for high voice and harp). There is a recording of this by Philip Langridge and Osian Ellis on #13 of the Naxos English Song Series (8.557222 - Originally released by Collins Classics)

    See also

    References

    1. Francis James Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, "The Fause Knight Upon the Road"
    2. "Mainly Norfolk: English and Scottish Folk and Other Good Music". Mainly Norfolk. Retrieved 3 Sep 2020.
    3. Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 1, p 20, Dover Publications, New York 1965
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