The False Knight on the Road is an old British ballad that was sung in many versions, but the Knight was always an incarnation of the devil. Typically, in many versions, he accosts a child traveling at night. He questions the child, in an attempt to intimidate the child. The moral of the story told by the song is that the child should stand his ground. If the child stands unflinchingly, the devil will be recalled to Hell. Here are just the first and the last stanza of a version I have known and loved for years.

The Knight on the Road

"What brings you here so late," said the knight on the road.
"I go to seek my God," said the child, as he stood.
And he stood
And he stood
And 'twere well that he stood.
"I go to seek my God," said the child as he stood.

"Me thinks I hear a bell," said the knight on the road.
"Ay, it's ringing you to Hell," said the child as he stood.
And he stood
And he stood
And 'twere well that he stood.
"Ay, it's ringing you to Hell," said the child as he stood.

I learned this song when I was 17, at the listening library where I went to college. It sure gives an alternative hue to the image of "standing one's ground." I used to sing it to myself, when I was afraid.

I was intrigued by the theme of refusing to flinch before the diabolical. In the song, the child had a right to be there and would not move over for the devil.

Of course, the devil was not riding in an SUV.

I don't know that this strategy, if any, would have worked better for Trayvon.

He has gone to God.

His killer is in hiding. Perhaps, he hears a bell.