Although the story of the monster outwitted by the maiden he tries to carry off is an almost world-wide motif, and is found in Africa among other countries, this particular version has evidently been in contact with European (English or Scottish) sources. This is shown not only by the fact that the suitor proves to be the Devil, but by the question and answer (misplaced by the story-teller):
"What is roguer than a womankind?"
"The Devil is roguer than a womankind."
This riddle appears in three versions of the ballad of "The Three Sisters," otherwise "The Elfin Knight," or "Riddles wisely Expounded" (Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, vol. i. pp. 1-6), as:
|
"O what is greener than the grass? Or what is worse than e'er woman was?" "O poison's greener than the grass, And the Devil's worse than e'er woman was...." "As soon as she the fiend did name, He flew away in a blazing flame," |
says one version, but in the rest there is no disenchantment, and the youngest sister wins the visitor as her husband by her ready wit in replying, which Professor Child (Additions and Corrections, vol. v. p. 283), thinks a modernization of the original story. He quotes a manuscript version taken from a book of Henry VI.'s time, wherein the "Elfin Knight" is the foul fiend himself undisguised.
For similar survivals of Riddle Songs and Tales see "There was a Lady in the West" and "Scarborough Fair" in English County Songs, and Kidson's Traditional Tunes, and "The Lover's Task" in Songs of the West, etc.
The tune is evidently an old ballad air. It is in the Aeolian Mode.
The tune is the same as that sung in Worcestershire by children to "A finger and thumb keep moving."