Tom Potts is #109 of the

Child Ballads 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 ''T ...

, the collection of 305

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

s from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, and their

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

variants, collected 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 r ...

in the late nineteenth century. The collection was published as ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'' between 1882 and 1898 by

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

in ten volumes and later reissued in a five volume edition.

Synopsis

The heroine rejects a rich suitor, Lord Fenix/Phenix, for her poor true love, Tom Potts. Her angry father makes arrangements for the wedding. She sends word to Tom. He sends back word that he will be there and goes to his lord, asking for assistance. The lord is generous with him. Tom interrupts the wedding procession to challenge the groom. He wins. Her father agrees to their marriage and makes Tom his heir.

Motifs

The unequal match is a very common motif in ballads and

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

s, such as '' Richie Story'' and King

Cophetua "The King and the Beggar-maid" is a 16th-century broadside balladThelma G. James (1933), "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads of Francis J. Child", ''The Journal of American Folklore'', Vol. 46 (No. 179), pp. 51–68. that tells the story o ...

.Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 2, p 441, Dover Publications, New York 1965

References

Child Ballads Houghton Mifflin books Year of song unknown Songwriter unknown {{folk-song-stub