|
List Of The Child Ballads
The Child Ballads is the colloquial name given to a collection of 305 ballads collected in the 19th century by Francis James Child Francis James Child (February 1, 1825 – September 11, 1896) was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of English and Scottish ballads now known as the Child Ballads. Child was Boylston professor of ... and originally published in ten volumes between 1882 and 1898 under the title ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads.'' The ballads Following are synopses of the stories recounted in the ballads in Child's collection. Since Child included multiple versions of most ballads, the details of a story can vary widely. The synopses presented here reflect the summaries in Child's text, but also rely on other sources as well as the ballads themselves. References {{Francis James Child Child Ballads Murder ballads ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Cruel Brother
"The Cruel Brother" ( Child 11, Roud 26) is a folk song. Synopsis A knight (or lord) courts a lady. She tells him he must win the consent of her kin. He neglects that of her brother John. John mortally stabs her on her wedding day. She lives long enough to make various bequests, such as clothing to her mother, a fan to her sister; John invariably receives "a gallows to hang him on" and his wife may receive grief for her entire life and his children that they would have to beg, though the wife may get a widow's weeds and a quiet life, or his son the grace of God to be a man. Motifs The bride's bequests are highly typical of ballads, and similar bequests are found in ballads throughout Europe. Field Recordings Only four field recordings of the song by traditional singers are known to have been made: * Bell Duncan of Ythenwells, Aberdeenshire, Scotland (1929–35, recorded by James Madison Carpenter) * Polly Johnson of Wise, Virginia, USA (1939, recorded by Herbert Halpe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willie's Lyke-Wake
"Willie's Lyke-Wake" is Child ballad 25. Synopsis Willie sets up his wake and lies in his winding cloth. His love discovers this and pleads with her father to let her go. When he does, and she enters the room, Willie rouses himself and declares that he will marry her at once. Variants The hero who feigns death to draw a timid maiden is a common ballad theme; even more common is for a heroine to use it to gain a husband, as in " The Gay Goshawk". Danish variants occur in manuscript in the sixteenth century, and continued in oral tradition for centuries. It is among the commonest ballads in Danish, and is known in Magyar, Slovenian, and Italian variants. See also *List of Child Ballads The Child Ballads is the colloquial name given to a collection of 305 ballads collected in the 19th century by Francis James Child Francis James Child (February 1, 1825 – September 11, 1896) was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, ... References External links''Willie's Lyke- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bonnie Annie
"Bonnie Annie" ( Child 24, Roud 172) is a folk ballad recorded from the Scottish and English traditions. Scottish texts are often called ''Bonnie Annie'' or ''The Green Banks of Yarrow'', English texts are most often called ''The Banks of Green Willow''. Other titles include ''The Undutiful Daughter, The High Banks O Yarrow, The Watery Grave, Green Willow, There Was a Rich Merchant that Lived in Strathdinah'' and ''The Merchant's Daughter''.Roud Folk Song Index, Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website http://vwml.org/search?ts=1486337459743&collectionfilter=RoudFS;RoudBS&advqtext=0, rn, 172# Retrieved 2017/03/09 The ballad has been collected from traditional singers in Britain, Ireland, and the USA. Synopsis A young woman, either a lord's or a merchant's daughter, in some versions called Annie but often nameless, is seduced by a man who is sometimes a sea captain or a squire, or his occupation isn't mentioned. She falls pregnant. He suggests she steals "some of your father's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judas (ballad)
"Judas", Child ballad 23, dates to at least the 13th century and is one of the oldest surviving English ballads. It is numbered as 23 in Francis Child's collection.Bertrand Harris Bronson -''The Ballad as Song'' 1969 Page 97 "First, then, for the materials, taking the Child ballads as our convenient base. ... Whereas the earliest text among Child's ballads, the "Judas," goes back to the mid-thirteenth century, no tune specifically attached in the record by title or ... Synopsis Christ gives Judas 30 pieces of silver to buy food for the Apostles; on his way to the market, Judas is waylaid by his sister, who lulls him to sleep and steals the money. Unwilling to confess his loss, Judas sells Christ to the Romans for the same amount. See also *List of Child Ballads The Child Ballads is the colloquial name given to a collection of 305 ballads collected in the 19th century by Francis James Child Francis James Child (February 1, 1825 – September 11, 1896) was an American schola ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Maid And The Palmer
"The Maid and the Palmer" (alternate versions are known as "The Maid of Coldingham" and "The Well Below The Valley"; original title in Percy "Lillumwham") (Roud 2335, Child ballad 21) is an English language medieval murder ballad with supernatural/religious overtones. Because of its dark and sinister lyrics (implying murder and, in some versions, incest), the song was often avoided by folk singers. Child's main text in English comes from the seventeenth century ballad collection compiled by Thomas Percy, supplemented by a nineteenth century fragment recalled by Sir Walter Scott, although both Child and later scholars agree that the English language version(s) of the ballad derive from an earlier Continental original or "Magdalene ballad" that is based upon a medieval legend associated with Mary Magdalene, in which her story has become conflated with that of the Samaritan woman at the well in the Gospel of John. The ballad was present in oral tradition in Scotland in the early ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Cruel Mother
"The Cruel Mother" (a.k.a. "The Greenwood Side" or "Greenwood Sidey") () is a murder ballad originating in England that has since become popular throughout the wider English-speaking world. According to Roud and Bishop :''Widely collected in Britain and Ireland, and in North America, 'The Cruel Mother' has clearly struck a chord with singers over a number of generations. We will never know quite why, of course, but in performance the combination of the matter-of-fact handling of a difficult subject and the repeated rhythmic refrain often creates a stark and hypnotic tale, which is extremely effective.'' Synopsis A woman gives birth to one or two illegitimate children (usually sons) in the woods, kills them, and buries them. On her return trip home, she sees a child, or children, playing, and says that if they were hers, she would dress them in various fine garments and otherwise take care of them. The children tell her that when they were hers, she would not dress them so but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Orfeo
''Sir Orfeo'' is an anonymous Middle English Breton lai dating from the late 13th or early 14th century. It retells the story of Orpheus as a king who rescues his wife from the fairy king. The folk song ''Orfeo'' (Roud 136, Child 19) is based on this poem. History and manuscripts ''Sir Orfeo'' was probably written in the late 13th or early 14th century in the Westminster-Middlesex area. It is preserved in three manuscripts: the oldest, Advocates 19.2.1, known as the Auchinleck MS. is dated about 1330; Harley 3810 is from about the beginning of the fifteenth century; and Ashmole 61 was compiled over the course of several years, the portion of the MS. containing ''Sir Orfeo'' dating around 1488. The beginning of the poem describes itself as a Breton lai and says it is derived from a no longer extant text, the ''Lai d'Orphey''. The story contains a mixture of the Greek myth of Orpheus with Celtic mythology and folklore concerning fairies, introduced into English via the Old ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sir Lionel
Sir Lionel is the younger son of King Bors of Gaunnes (or Gaul) and Evaine and brother of Bors the Younger in Arthurian legend since the Lancelot-Grail cycle. He is a double cousin of Lancelot and cousin of Lancelot's younger half-brother Hector de Maris (not to be confused with the older Sir Ector, who was King Arthur's foster-father). He later became the subject of one of the famous Child Ballads (# 18). Arthurian legend When their father dies in battle against King Claudas, Lionel and Bors are rescued by the Lady of the Lake and raised in her otherworldly kingdom alongside her foster-son Lancelot. Like Bors and Lancelot, Lionel becomes a Knight of the Round Table upon reaching the age and then proving himself in heroic deeds. One day, while travelling with Lancelot as a young man, Lionel is captured by the rogue knight Turquine, who whips him with briars and throws him in the dungeon. The scenario repeats itself later while he is on the Quest for the Holy Grail, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hind Horn
"Hind Horn" (Child Ballads, Child 17, Roud Folk Song Index, Roud]28 is a traditional English and Scottish folk ballad. Synopsis Hind Horn and the king's daughter Jean fall in love. He gives her a silver wand, and she gives him a diamond ring and tells him when the stones grow pale, he has lost her love. One day, on his travels, he sees it growing pale and sets out for her father's castle. A beggar tells him that the king's daughter is going to false hero, marry, and he persuades him to trade clothing. Hind Horn gets to the castle and begs a cup of wine; when the king's daughter gives it to him, he drops the ring in. She asks where he got it, and he told her she gave it to him. She declares she will throw off her fine clothing and beg with him from town to town, and he tells her that his clothing is only a disguise, she will be a great lady. It was tradition at the time that any beggar who came to the back door of a house to beg from the bride on a wedding day would receive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sheath And Knife
"Sheath and Knife" (Roud 3960, Child 16) is a folk ballad. Synopsis A woman is pregnant with her brother's child. He takes her to the greenwood to have her child, but she dies (or he kills her at her request). He buries her and laments her death. Variants " Leesome Brand", Child ballad 15, is closely related to this ballad, and some variants are hard to distinguish; the hero laments the death in the same language as "Sheath and Knife". Other ballads on this theme include "The Bonny Hind", " The King's Dochter Lady Jean", and " Lizie Wan".Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 1, p 185, Dover Publications, New York 1965 Versions * Ewan MacColl sang this ballad and it is included on the collection ''Black & White''. * Sol Invictus has a live version on the 1994 album ''The Death of the West''. * Maddy Prior has a version on her 1998 album ''Flesh & Blood''. * Helen Bonchek Schneyer performed an a cappella version on her Folk-Legacy album ''Ballads ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leesome Brand
Leesome Brand is Child Ballad number 15 and Roud #3301. Synopsis Leesome Brand few boyes like in ten years old. An eleven-year-old girl fell in love with him, but nine months later, called on him to saddle horses, take her dowry, and flee with her. They headed to his mother's house, but she went into labour on the way. He went off to hunt, but violated a prohibition she laid on him, either not to hunt a milk-white hind, or to come running when called, and she and his son died. He went home and lamented this to his mother. Some variants stop there. In others, the mother gave him a horn with ointment that restored them both to life. Variants Francis James Child described this ballad as particularly ill-preserved in its Scottish form, requiring consulting foreign variants even to be sure of the plot. One of its variants was so corrupted as to be barely distinguishable from "Sheath and Knife", Child Ballad 16, which laments a death in the same language. The foreign variants of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
