The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington

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The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington is Child ballad 105.

[edit] Synopsis

A esquire's son fell in love with a bailiff's daughter. She would not believe him in love, and his family had him apprenticed for seven years when they discovered it. He believed that she did not think of him the whole time.

The women of Islington went out to the meadows to play, and the bailiff's daughter disguised herself and went toward London. She met her true love and begged a coin from him. He asked after her. She claimed that she was dead. He said that he would give away his horse and go to foreign lands. She tells him that she is alive and in fact, the woman speaking to him. He is delighted.