Richard Todd wrote:

>If indeed Scarborough Fair is a variant of The Elfin Knight, it should be
>in Child with a zillion other variants.  It doesn't remind me much of the
>variants I do know, but that's not uncommon.  Pretty Polly is said to be
>a variant of the Gosport Tragedy, for example.
>
>Of course, Child doesn't have any tunes.  I too have heard a number
>of recordings of Scarborough Fair, but only S & G, and one post-S & G
>recording use that tune.  That doesn't prove anything, of course, and I may
>well be mistaken in my assumption that the tune originated with S & G.

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, S&G's tune is in fact in
Bronson's _Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads_ as one of the variants.
What I do not recall is whether it is CALLED "Scarborough Fair," and as I
don't own that 4-volume set (which is unfortunately OP), I can't look it up
right now.  I've been wanting an excuse to get these on interlibrary loan,
and maybe this is it..  I'll let you know what I find out unless somebody
else beats me to it.

Chris Bonds