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Child ballad The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as '' ...

Synopsis

A lady laments that her love had left her. He, still there, comes to comfort her but tells her that he is sworn to leave. She gives him a ring: while he wears it, he will shed no blood, but if he sees the stone fade, he will know she is dead. He is departed for "twelve month and a day" before the stone fades. He gives all his goods as alms to his hometown, and dies, uniting with the lady's soul in heaven.

Motifs

The

magic ring A magic ring is a mythical, folkloric or fictional piece of jewelry, usually a Ring (jewellery), finger ring, that is purported to have Magic (supernatural), supernatural properties or powers. It appears frequently in fantasy and fairy tales. M ...

is found also in the ballad "

Hind Horn "Hind Horn" (Child 17, Roudbr>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 pa ...

".Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 2, p 317, Dover Publications, New York 1965

References

Child Ballads Year of song unknown Songwriter unknown {{Folk-song-stub