The Task
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1957.7.B6
Original Tape ID
Summary
A version of the ballad 'The Elfin Knight', known to the contributor as 'The Task'. In this song, the Devil sets a young woman some impossible tasks e.g., "Make to me aye a Holland shirt / athout either seam nor needle work." She responds by setting some equally impossible tasks of her own, e.g., "You'll fetch to me two acres of land / Between yon salt sea an thon salt sea strand."
The contributor heard this song from her great-grandfather.
Item Notes
6 verses of 2, 3 or 4 lines, with a refrain between verses.
See:
'Tocher' 20 (1975) pp. 138-142
Greig-Duncan vol. 2, pp. 483-485
'Scottish Ballad Book' (N. Buchan, 1973) p. 137
'Singing Island' (E. MacColl & P. Seeger, 1960) p. 26
'Book of Scottish Ballads' (A. Whitelaw, 1845) pp. 463-465
'Ancient Scottish Ballads' (G. R. Kinloch, 1827) pp. 145-152
'Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads' (A. Keith & G. Greig, 1925) pp. 1-2
'Andrew Crawfurd's Collection of Ballads & Songs' vol. 2 (E. Lyle, 1996) pp. 6-7
'Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads' vol. 1 (B. H. Bronson & F. J. Child, 1959) pp. 9-33
'Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland' (E. MacColl & P. Seeger, 1977) pp. 47-49
'Scottish Studies' 9 (H. Henderson & F. Collinson, 'New Child Ballad Variants from Oral Tradition', 1965) pp. 4-8
Language
Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Fair