ELFIN KNIGHT, THE
Created on 30/10/2018Latest update on 26/07/2024
Artist: Martha Reid
Author: traditional
Label: Greentrax
Year: 1955
From Blairgowrie, Perthshire, in 2011 on cd Songs And Ballads From Perthshire. Child ballad #2, Roud #269 (also as Rosemary Lane).
Covers:
- 1956:
Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger [on LP Classic Scots Ballads]
- 1956:
John Langstaff [as The Lover's Tasks]
- 1961:
Bob & Ron Copper [as The Elfin Knight (An Acre Of Land)]
- 1963:
- 1969:
Cyril Tawney [as The Tasks]
- 2005:
- 2018:
The theme of Scarborough Fair is a lyrical variation of this Child Ballad. Just as in The Elfin Knight a suitor is challenged with a series of impossible tasks to please his/her lover and vice versa.
