"The Twa Magicians", "The Two Magicians", "The Lady and the Blacksmith", or "The Coal Black Smith" (Roud 1350, Child 44) is a British folk song. It first appears in print in 1828 in two sources,

Peter Buchan Peter Buchan (born 4 August 1790 in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire – 19 September 1854) was a Scottish editor, publisher, and collector of ballads and folktales. Biography Buchan apprenticed with a , and in 1814 produced his first book, a collecti ...

's ''Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland'' and John Wilson's ''

Noctes Ambrosianae The ''Noctes Ambrosianae'', a series of 71 imaginary colloquies, appeared in ''Blackwood's Magazine'' from 1822 to 1835. The earlier ones had several different authors, including John Gibson Lockhart, William Maginn, James Hogg and Professor Joh ...

'' #40. It was later published as number 44 of

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 ...

's '' English and Scottish Popular Ballads''. During the 20th century, versions of it have been recorded by a number of

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

and

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

ians.

Synopsis

A blacksmith threatens to

deflower Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

(take the

virginity Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

of) a lady, who vows to keep herself a maiden. A

transformation chase In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, sorcery, spells or having inherited the ...

ensues, differing in several variants, but containing such things as she becomes a

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...

, and he catches her as greyhound, she became a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

and he became either a water dog or a drake. In the Child version of the ballad she does not escape, but in other common renderings, she does.

Motifs

In ballads, the man chasing the woman appears more often in conversation than in fact, when a woman says she will flee, and the man retorts he will chase her, through a variety of forms; these tales are often graceful teasing.Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 1, p 399-400, Dover Publications, New York 1965

regarded it as derived from one of two

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

forms. In the first, a young man and woman flee an enemy by taking on new forms.Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 1, p 401, Dover Publications, New York 1965 This type is Aarne-Thompson type 313, the girl helps the hero flee; instances of it include "

Jean, the Soldier, and Eulalie, the Devil's Daughter Jean, the Soldier, and Eulalie, the Devil's Daughter (french: La belle Eulalie) is a French fairy tale collected by Achille Millien. The fable is classed as Aarne-Thompson type 313 (A girl helps the hero to flee) and revolves about a transformat ...

", " The Grateful Prince", " Foundling-Bird", and " The Two Kings' Children". In the second, a young man, studying with a sorcerer, flees his master by taking on new forms, which his master counters by equivalent forms. This is Aarne-Thompson type 325, the magician and his pupil; instances include " The Thief and His Master", " Farmer Weathersky", " Master and Pupil", and " Maestro Lattantio and His Apprentice Dionigi".

Versions

The

Roud Folksong Index The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

lists 33 examples. though some are duplicates. Apart from earlier Scottish versions there are eight versions collected in the 20th and 21st centuries, five from England, three from Scotland, and one from Kentucky. The earliest was collected by Cecil Sharp in 1905.

Recordings

The song has been recorded (generally under the name "The Two Magicians") by a number of traditional

artists, including

A. L. Lloyd Albert Lancaster Lloyd (29 February 1908 – 29 September 1982),Eder, Bruce. (29 September 1982A. L. Lloyd - Music Biography, Credits and Discography AllMusic. Retrieved on 2013-02-24. usually known as A. L. Lloyd or Bert Lloyd, was an English fo ...

Ewan MacColl James Henry Miller (25 January 1915 – 22 October 1989), better known by his stage name Ewan MacColl, was a folk singer-songwriter, folk song collector, labour activist and actor. Born in England to Scottish parents, he is known as one of the ...

Martin Carthy Martin Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, and later artists such as ...

, Dave Swarbrick, and John Roberts, as well as

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

and folk jazz artists such as Galley Beggar,

Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and we ...

, Spriguns of Tolgus, Pentangle, and

Bellowhead Bellowhead is an English contemporary folk band, active from 2004 to 2016, reforming in 2020. The eleven-piece act played traditional dance tunes, folk songs and shanties, with arrangements drawing inspiration from a wide range of musical style ...

. It is also popular among

neofolk Neofolk, also known as apocalyptic folk, is a form of experimental music blending elements of folk and industrial music, which emerged in punk rock circles in the 1980s. Neofolk may either be solely acoustic or combine acoustic folk instrumenta ...

artists, and has been recorded by Current 93 (under the name "Oh Coal Black Smith") and

Blood Axis Blood Axis are an American band, made up of journalist and author Michael Moynihan (journalist), Michael Moynihan, music producer Robert Ferbrache, and musician and author Annabel Lee.Liner notes of the ''Ultimacy'' compilation Overview Early B ...

. It was the inspiration for the first movement of Märchentänze by Thomas Adès, composed in 2020.

References

External links