Jellon Grame is a murder ballad, listed as
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 '' ...
number 90.
Synopsis
A woman goes to the greenwood to plead with her lover. When he threatens to kill her, she pleads for her baby's life. He cuts her open and takes out the baby, raising it as his sister's son. But one day, when his son wants to know why his mother never sees him, he tells the truth, pointing out the specific tree as her grave. His son kills him on the spot.
Variants
Child ballad 89 ''
Fause Foodrage
Fause Foodrage (Child ballad 89, Roud 57) is a Scottish murder ballad of the 17th or 18th century.
It was first printed by Walter Scott in ''Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border'' (1802).
Scott cited Elizabeth, Lady Wardlaw as the ballad's probable au ...
'' has affinities to this ballad.
[Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 2, p 298, Dover Publications, New York 1965]
References
Child Ballads
Murder ballads
Year of song unknown
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