The Crafty Farmer is Child ballad 283, existing in several variants. A farmer is traveling with a sum of money—sometimes because he must pay his rent...

is the heroine of the Robin Hood legend in English folklore, often taken to be his lover. She is not mentioned in the early, medieval versions of the legend...

(also spelled Gisburne, Gisborne, Gysborne, or Gisborn) is a character from the Robin Hood legends of English folklore. He first appears in "Robin Hood and...

"The Ballad of Chevy Chase" is an English ballad, catalogued as Child Ballad 162 (Roud 223). There are two extant ballads under this title, both of which...

article: The English and Scottish Popular Ballads/Part 1/Chapter 26 "The Three Ravens" (Roud 5, Child 26) is an English folk ballad, printed in the songbook...

"The Bonnie Earl o' Moray" (Child 181, Roud 334) is a popular Scottish ballad, which may date from as early as the 17th century. The ballad touches on...

of Robin Hood. It dates from at the latest the 17th century, and possibly originating earlier, making it one of the oldest existing tales of Robin Hood...

Tam Lin. In The House of the Scorpion, a novel by Nancy Farmer, Tam Lin is the bodyguard of the protagonist, the clone of Matteo Alacrán. The multi-faceted...

which the lady must perform in order to be accepted as his lover. The first verse usually opens with the introduction of the title character: The elphin...

dating from the late 13th or early 14th century. It retells the story of Orpheus as a king who rescues his wife from the fairy king. The folk song Orfeo...

figure in the Robin Hood legend. According to the stories, he was a wandering minstrel who became a member of Robin's band of outlaws, the "Merry Men"...

"The Cherry-Tree Carol" (Roud 453) is a ballad with the rare distinction of being both a Christmas carol and one of the Child Ballads (no. 54). The song...

"The Knoxville Girl" is an Appalachian murder ballad. It is derived from the 19th-century Irish ballad "The Wexford Girl", itself derived from the earlier...

the more common tunes used for the ballad is the same as that used for the English ballad "Dives and Lazarus" and the Irish pub favorite "Star of the...

usually titled "L'avvelenato [it]" ("The Poisoned Man") or "Il testamento dell'avvelenato" ("The Poisoned Man's Will"), the earliest known version being a 1629...

developing the character of our democratic community, as of old the same class had in Athens or in Florence." The family was poor, but thanks to the city of...

Ives's 1949 album, The Return of the Wayfaring Stranger, for example, includes two: "Lord Randall" and "The Divil and the Farmer". In 1956 four albums...

Arthurian legend. He is the younger son of King Bors of Gaunnes (or Gaul) and Evaine and brother of Bors the Younger. First recorded in the Lancelot-Grail cycle...

The Child Ballads is the colloquial name given to a collection of 305 ballads collected in the 19th century by Francis James Child and originally published...

"The Two Sisters" (also known by the Scots title "The Twa Sisters") is a traditional murder ballad, dating at least as far back as the mid 17th century...

freedom from the executioner. Other variants and/or titles include "The Gallows Pole", "The Gallis Pole", "Hangman", "The Prickle-Holly Bush", "The Golden Ball"...

thus this was the version that Walter Scott excerpted as Appendix. The Sloane MS. begins the second fytte with: "Heare begynethe þe ijd fytt I saye...

Worm and the Machrel of the Sea", the witch uses it after the transformation to summon her victim, but nothing appears to stem from it here. The thwarted...

"Sir Patrick Spens" is one of the most popular of the Child Ballads (No. 58) (Roud 41), and is of Scottish origin. It is a maritime ballad about a disaster...

original text related to this article: Child's Ballads/20 "The Cruel Mother" (a.k.a. "The Greenwood Side" or "Greenwood Sidey") (Roud 9, Child 20) is...

Gypsy The Waterboys' recording of "The Raggle Taggle Gypsy", from the album Room to Roam. Problems playing this file? See media help. The core of the song's...

Herries", "The Carpenter’s Wife", "The Banks of Italy", or "The House-Carpenter" – is a popular ballad dating from the mid-seventeenth century, when the earliest...

"The False Lover Won Back" is a Scottish ballad, cataloged as Child Ballad 218 (Roud 201). Francis James Child cataloged the song as Child Ballad 218...

Hood and the Monk is a Middle English ballad and one of the oldest surviving ballads of Robin Hood. The earliest surviving document with the work is from...

has several variant names. The song dates to at least 1613, and under the title Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard is one of the Child ballads collected by...