"Fair Margaret and Sweet William" or Lady Margaret or Lady Margaret and Sweet William is a folk song, collected by Francis James Child as Child ballad number 74.[1] It appeared in The Percy Folio as well, and Thomas Percy reported that it was quoted in the Knight of the Burning Pestle (1611).[2]
Sweet William tells Fair Margaret (the maid that he's in love with) that he is marrying another. She sees the bride and William together after the wedding and runs off to kill herself, because of how badly her heart has been broken. Her ghost comes into his bridal chamber and ask him if he loves his new bride, William replies telling Margaret that he loves her much more than his bride. William wakes in the morning saying he had a bad dream and in which he saw Lady Margaret's ghost and goes off looking for her. All he finds is her body in a coffin. Soon after Sweet William kills himself too. They are buried beside each other and a rose grows from her grave and a green briar from his. These two things grew together forming a lovers knot.
Numerous variations on this basic structure can be found in folk songs throughout the British Isles and the USA.
Child identified three different versions of this song, while Cecil Sharp collected numerous other variants, and considered "Sweet William's Ghost" to be a slight variation on the basic plot of this ballad. In one version Sharp collected from the Appalachians, the last two verses closely resembled those of "Barbara Allen".
Similarly to this one, in Lord Thomas and Fair Annet, the hero rejects the heroine to marry for money; Lord Lovel, containing some similar themes, has the heroine die for lack of hope.[3]
Other ballads dealing with similar themes include Lord Thomas and Fair Annet and Lady Alice.