X:33
T:The Tasks
T:The Elfin Knight
B:Bronson
C:Trad
O:Baring-Gould MSS., CXXVIII(I); text, (B) coinciding with (A)
O:except in the concluding stanzas.  Sung by John Hext, Post Bridge
O:October 1890.  Noted by F.W. Bussell.
H:This form, almost identical, appears in Baring-Gould, Sheppard and
Bussell, Songs of the West, ed. 1905, p.96, as from P. Symonds, Jacobstow,
John Hext, and James Dyer of Mawgan.
The original copy is in straight 6/8 time throughout.
N:Child 2
M:9/8
L:1/8
K:C % Pentatonic ( -4 -7) Lydian/Ionian/Mixolydian [Pi 1]
G3 GEG | c3 G2 G A2 A |
w:Thou must buy me my lady, a camb-rick
G3 z2 G GEG | c3 G2 G AAA | G2 E EEE EEE |
w:shirt Whilst eve-ry grove rings with a mer-ry an-tine And stitch it with-out an- y
[M:6/8] E2 D C2 "(a)"C |[M:9/8] G2 G GGC GGD | C3 |]
w:need-le work O~and then thou shalt be a true love of mine.
%alternate:
%"(a)"c | [M:9/8] E2 F FFC EED | C3 |]
W:
W:Thou must buy me my lady, a cambrick shirt
W:Whilst every grove rings with a merry antine..
W:And stitch it without any needle work
W:O and then thou shalt be a true love of mine.
W:
W:And thou must wash it in yonder well,
W:Whilst every grove &c.
W:Where never a drop of water in fell,
W:O and then, &c.
W:
W:And thou must hang it upon a white thorn,
W:Whilst every, &c.
W:That never has blossomed since Adam was born,
W:O and then, &c.
W:
W:And when that these tasks are finished & done
W:Whilst every, &c.
W:I'll take thee & marry thee under the sun
W:O and then, &c.
W:
W:Or ever I do these two and three
W:Whilst every, &c.
W:I will set of tasks as many to thee
W:O and then shall I be a true love of thine.
W:
W:Thou must buy for me an acre of land
W:Whilst every, &c.
W:Between the salt ocean & the yellow sand,
W:O and then, &c.
W:
W:Thou must plough it o'er with a horse's horn
W:Whilst every, &c.
W:And sow it over with one pepper corn
W:O and then, &c
W:
W:O tell her to bleach it on yonder grass
W:Whilst every, &c.
W:Where never a foot or a hoof did pass
W:[O] and then, &c.
W:
W:O tell him to thrash it in yonder barn
W:Whilst every, &c.
W:That hangs to the sky by a thread of yarn,
W:&c.