Child Waters
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Child Waters is Child ballad number 63, existing in several variants.[1]
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[edit] Synopsis
The pregnant Margaret, or Faire Ellen, is told by Child Waters (or Lord John) that she should bide at home. In some variants, he offers her lands to support his child, and she tells him that she would rather have one kiss from him than all his lands. He tells her that she must dress his footpage and will suffer -- in some variants, even worse conditions that his horse and hound. She still goes with him. After they arrive at home, she gives birth. Child Waters gives her the best bed in his castle to lie in and promises that they will marry on the same day that she is churched.
[edit] Motifs
A common scene, where she must pass through water, shows parallels to the ballads of Lizzie Lindsay and The Knight and Shepherd's Daughter.[2]
Her pursuit of the knight, on foot while he is on horseback, also appears in Child ballad 63, The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter, where it fits a very different plot.[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Francis James Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, "Child Waters"
- ^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 84, Dover Publications, New York 1965
- ^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 458, Dover Publications, New York 1965
[edit] External links
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