Lady Maisry

Lady Maisry is Child ballad 65, existing in many variants. [Francis James Child, "English and Scottish Popular Ballads", [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch065.htm "Lady Maisry"] ]

ynopsis

The heroine -- Maisry, Janet, Margery, Marjory, Susie -- becomes pregnant (sometimes after rejecting many Scottish lords). She declares that she will not surrender her (often English) true love. Her family goes to burn her. A page boy goes to fetch the true love, but he arrives too late.

Many variants end with his vows of revenge on all her family, and often on all the lands about. In some, he adds that he will remember the page boy, sometimes resolving to become a pilgrim after his revenge.

In some, he dies of grief, or goes mad.

Motifs

The woman sentenced to death for unchastity is a common motif in romances and ballads. [Francis James Child, "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads", v 2, p 127, Dover Publications, New York 1965]

References

External links

* [http://www.contemplator.com/child/maisry.html "Lady Maisry"] , with commentary