[Herbalist] Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

[Christine Seelye-King]

"The Elfin Knight", the English version, seems to have appeared in a
broadside printed in 1673.  It's proper title is: " A Proper New Ballad
entitled The Wind hath blawn my Plaid awa, or a Discourse between a Young
Woman and the Elphin Knight. To be sung with its own proper tune".   Childe
goes on for some time describing the various aspects of the song, and
evidently there are German songs with the same set of impossible tasks set
for a lover dating back to 1545. There are even references to Persian
stories and Buddah, the basic elements of dealing with fairy seem to be the
main thread the story has maintained over the centuries it has been used.
The refrain from "The Elfin Knight" is: My plaid awa, my plaid awa, And ore
the hill and far awa, And far awa to Norrawa, My plaid shall not be blown
awa."  Among the impossible tasks set by the knight for the young maid that
would marry him are "Married with me if thou wouldst be, A courtesie thou
must do to me.  For thou must shape a sark to me, Without any cut or heme,
quoth he."  The verses we are familiar with today creep into the song slowly
over many revisions, and the first time we see the 'Parsley, sage, rosemary
and thyme' verse are in a version from 1810, called Gammer Gurton's Garland.
"Can you make me a cambrick shirt, Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Without any seam or needle work? And you shall be a true lover of mine".
Another from the 1800's is from "Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes of England", the
refrain goes: "My father left me three acres of land, Sing ivy, sing ivy, My
father left me three acres of land, Sing holly, go whistle and ivy.  I
ploughed it with a ram's horn, and sowed it all over with one pepper corn."
etc.  The parsley, sage, etc. verse does not re-appear until Simon and
Garfunkle, evidently, and does not seem to be a major part of the story in
any of the other versions, indeed, not even in the version it is the refrain
for.  I would say that it being referred to as an abortificant in the story
is at best incidental, and not germain to the telling of the story at all.
There are many food references both in versions of the refrain and the
verses, most having to deal with the impossibility of the task at hand.
Christianna