Jellon Grame

Jellon Grame is Child ballad number 90 and a murder ballad.[1]

Synopsis

A woman goes to the greenwood to plead with her lover. When he threatens to kill her, she pleads for her baby's life. He cuts her open and takes out the baby, raising it as his sister's son. But one day, when his son wants to know why his mother never sees him, he tells the truth, pointing out the specific tree as her grave. His son kills him on the spot.

Variants

Child ballad 89 Fause Foodrage has affinities to this ballad.[2]

Versions

Broadside Electric included it in the 1999 album With Teeth.

References

  1. ↑ Francis James Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, "Jellon Grame"
  2. ↑ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 298, Dover Publications, New York 1965