The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter

The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter

The Knight and the Shepherd’s Daughter is Child ballad 110. [Francis James Child, "English and Scottish Popular Ballads", [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch110.htm "The Knight and the Shepherd’s Daughter"] ]

ynopsis

A knight persuades a shepherd's daughter to give him her virginity. She chases after him to court, on foot while he is on horseback, and demands marriage. He attempts to bribe her, but she insists, and he must marry her or be executed. After the marriage, it is revealed, either by the woman herself or by Billy Blin, that she is, in fact, the daughter of royalty or high nobility; it may also be revealed that the man is a noble instead of a mere knight.

Motifs

Her pursuit of the knight, on foot while he is on horseback, also appears in Child ballad 63, "Child Waters", where it fits a very different plot. [Francis James Child, "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads", v 2, p 458, Dover Publications, New York 1965]

The motif is very similar to that of the loathly lady, particularly the variant found in The Wife of Bath's Tale. [Francis James Child, "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads", v 2, p 458, Dover Publications, New York 1965]

"Lise et Mainfroi", a 1740 French imitation of this ballad, has an actual shepherdess as the heroine; she announces at the altar that she is satisfied without the wedding, and the king and his court must persuade her to agree. [Francis James Child, "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads", v 2, p 459, Dover Publications, New York 1965]

ee also

*The Wylie Wife of the Hie Toun Hie

References


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