Child Waters

Child Waters is Child ballad number 63, existing in several variants.^[1]

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.

Motifs

A common scene, where she must pass through water, shows parallels to the ballads "Lizzie Lindsay" and "The Knight and Shepherd's Daughter".^[2][3]

See also

• The False Lover Won Back
• Young Hunting

References

1. ^ Francis James Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, "Child Waters"
2. ^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 84, Dover Publications, New York 1965
3. ^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 458, Dover Publications, New York 1965

External links

• Child Waters