"Young Andrew" is a folk song catalogued 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 '' ...
48.
Synopsis
Andrew seduces Helen and tells her he will fulfill his promise to marry her only if she brings him her father's gold. She does. He robs her not only of it but all her clothing. She goes home, naked. Her father is furious. Her heart breaks, killing her, and her father regrets it. Meanwhile, Andrew encountered a wolf in the woods, and it killed him; the gold still lies by his body.
Variants
This ballad contains motifs from both "
Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight
"Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" (Child #4; Roud #21) is the English common name representative of a very large class of European ballads.
The most frequently collected variant, The Outlandish Knight or ''May Colvin'' tells the tale of a young w ...
" (Child 4) and "
The Fair Flower of Northumberland" (Child 9).
This tale is found in German, Polish, and Danish variants.
[Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 1, p 432, Dover Publications, New York 1965]
See also
*
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, ...
References
Child Ballads
Year of song unknown
Songwriter unknown
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