Lady Elizabeth And The Elf Knight Analysis

Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight (Child #4) is, according to Child himself, one of the most wide-spread ballads in his collection (4). Three distinguishable English versions are documented in English and Scottish Popular Ballads and a fourth on can be traced back to North America.
Version A is the only one explicitly featuring an elf as well as a recurring refrain, the latter of which makes it very balladic. In every verse, the second line is “Aye as the gowans grow gay” and the fourth line “The first morning in may” (5). A cue modern reader may overlook is this very specific date. Henderson and Cowan observed in their study of Child ballads featuring elves and fairies, that dates are almost always specified when a mortal is taken away by such
She instantly recognizes it as the possession of an elf, as she wishes to posses the horn and have “yon elf-knight sleep in [her] bosom” (l.4). It is unclear whether the sound of the horn functions as a spell, as Henderson and Cowan suggest (76), or if its Lady Isabel's own curiosity which attracts her to the knight. Her wish summons the elf to her window, and together they ride to greenwood. The location may have some significance, considering that the elf brought all of his victims to the same place: “Seven king's-daughters here hae I slain” (l.17). The number seven is regarded as mystical by many different peoples around the world, bearing both positive and negative connotations (Daniels & Stevans, 1640-1645). It appears in all versions, and even in the North American version, although here the heroine Polly is to be the seventh victim (Hoffmann 366).
Lady Isabel proposes to get some rest before her murder, and”[wi] a sma charm she luud him fast asleep” (l.22). This charm and the dagger she uses to kill him counteracts the elf's previous musical enchantment (Henderson & Cowan, 90). The ballad ends with Lady Isabel verbally negating the elf- knight's threat to take her life; instead of her, he is the one bearing his former victim's
He claims the ballad only makes sense on a metaphorical lever, on which the elf-knight “appears as a response to the heroine's erotic yearning” (ibid). Thus, the whole ballad becomes a lesson about sexual self-discovery and sexual power. Lady Isabel is still naive in the beginning, when she lives in her “childhood condition of family and home” (ibid), and oblivious to the danger connected to her desire. Both the elf's and her own magic represent male and female sexual power. Syndergaard's reading is conclusive, but the dismissal of the narrative's literal level is unnecessary. Characters in ballads or fairy tales often act in ways that are not entirely believable by modern standards, or fall for seemingly obvious tricks. Furthermore, an elaborate scheme or lengthy struggle does not suite the compact narrative mode of the ballad.
Version B has lost the refrain, and the the heroine is merely referred to as the king's daughter. The initial scene is much more threatening than in version A: everyone but her has fallen into an enchanted sleep, leaving the heroine in a situation where she is clearly marked as the target of some attack and can expect no help. Unlike Lady Isabel, she did not wish for a supernatural