English and Scottish Ballads, Volume II

In Short

Francis James Child compiles traditional English and Scottish ballads detailing secret courtships, deadly betrayals, and tragic supernatural encounters. Across these verse narratives, knights meet their deaths in lovers' chambers, brothers slay brothers over hidden grudges or unwanted matches, and unquiet spirits return to demand their troth-plights from the living. The collection endures because of its spare, dramatic storytelling, plain emotional force, and unvarnished portrait of ancient violence and devotion.

The Story

The volume opens in the shadow of betrayal, where warnings of infidelity are passed by uncanny songbirds to oblivious lords. When Lord Randal is alerted to his lady’s secret affections, he rides out in the dark, only to find the night fraught with duplicity. In another chamber, Clerk Saunders lies in secret with May Margaret, having used a blindfold and a carried entry so she might swear she has not seen him on the floor. Her seven brothers enter her room with lit torches to judge the offense. While several brothers urge mercy or pity for the young lovers, the seventh silently draws his brown sword and pierces Saunders’s body as he rests. Margaret wakes at dawn to find her lover dead beside her, refusing all comfort from her father. Night brings no peace, as the pale ghost of Clerk Saunders tirles at her bower door, begging her to return his troth-plight so his soul may rest, warning her that a dead man's kiss would shorten her own days.

Kinship proves no shield against lethal violence across these tales. When Lady Maiserey refuses Lord Ingram and admits her pregnancy by his brother, Childe Vyet, the forced wedding proceeds with bitter grief, leading Childe Vyet to strike his brother down with a sharp blade. Elsewhere, Lord Thomas chooses a rich brown bride over fair Ellinor on his mother's counsel. Ellinor attends the wedding in brilliant green attire, but her mockery of the bride prompts the brown girl to stab her to the heart with a penknife; Lord Thomas instantly slays his new bride before ending his own life.

The dark river of domestic cruelty runs deeper still as brothers turn upon their sisters and mothers turn upon their sons. In the woods of Fyvie, Andrew Lammie's humble standing leads Tiftie's family to beat their own daughter until her back is broken for refusing to abandon her low-born love. On the banks of Fordie, an outlaw unknowingly threatens his three sisters, killing the first two when they refuse his knife before discovering his identity from the youngest and turning the blade on himself. Son Davie and Edward confess to their mothers the red blood on their hands comes not from hawks or greyhounds, but from their slain brothers—leaving a final, bitter curse upon the mothers whose fatal counsel prompted the deed. Even death provides no refuge: a murdered maiden thrown into a millpond is dragged out to have her breastbone and blue veins fashioned into a speaking instrument, ensuring her silent murder finds an eternal voice.

How It Unfolds

The warning in the woods A little bird alerts a lord to his lady’s betrayal, singing of her secret knight as the lord rides through the summer night to her bower door.

The sword in the dark Seven brothers enter May Margaret's chamber, and after debating their sister’s fate, the seventh silently runs Clerk Saunders through as he lies asleep.

The visit from the grave The ghost of a slain lover returns to his lady's bower at midnight, begging for his troth-plight back so his restless body may remain in the kirkyard.

The fatal wedding feast Fair Ellinor attends Lord Thomas’s wedding despite her mother's warning, prompting the jealous bride to draw a penknife and strike her rival to the heart.

The brother's lethal strike A father, mother, and brother brutally beat Tiftie's Annie for refusing to abandon her love for the penniless trumpeter Andrew Lammie.

The blood on the dirk A son returns home with stained garments, falsely claiming he has killed his greyhound or goss hawk before admitting to slaying his own brother.

The voice from the milldam A sister is pushed into the water by her elder sibling, and her drowned remains are recovered by a miller to be built into a musical instrument.

The People

Clerk Saunders He wants to remain with his true love May Margaret, but her brothers discover them together. After being slain in his sleep, he returns as a ghost to regain his troth.

May Margaret She seeks to remain faithful to Clerk Saunders and refuses all comfort after his murder. She follows his ghost into the winter night until she collapses in death.

Lord Thomas He wants wealth and his mother's blessing, leading him to marry a rich bride while loving Ellinor. His decision causes the deaths of both women and himself.

Fair Ellinor She desires Lord Thomas despite his choice of another bride. She rides to his wedding in state, where her beauty provokes the bride's fatal jealousy.

Lady Maiserey She wants to remain true to Childe Vyet, who has fathered her child. She refuses to lie about the paternity when forced to marry his brother, Lord Ingram.

Son Davie He seeks escape after murdering his brother over a minor dispute, leaving his wife to grief and bestowing a bitter curse upon his scheming mother.

Andrew Lammie He desires Tiftie's Annie, but his lack of wealth prevents their marriage, leaving her vulnerable to her family's fatal anger while he is away in Edinburgh.

In Its Own Voice

"O cocks are crowing a merry midnight, / I wot the wild fowls are boding day; / Give me my faith and troth again, / And let me fare me on my way."

The ghost of Clerk Saunders stands at May Margaret's window before dawn, pleading for the return of his vow so his corpse may rest in the earth.

"I'd rather be Childe Vyet's wife, / The white fish for to sell, / Before I were Lord Ingram's wife, / To wear the silk so well!"

Lady Maiserey refuses the luxury offered by Lord Ingram, declaring her devotion to his brother even as her wedding day approaches.

"The curse of hell frae me sall ze beir, / Mither, mither: / The curse of hell frae me sall ze beir, / Sic counseils ze gave to me O."

Edward condemns his mother as he prepares to flee across the sea, revealing that her evil advice drove him to murder his brother.

What It's Really About

These ballads examine the severe cost of family duty, social rank, and broken faith. Love in these verses is rarely a peaceful sanctuary; it is a dangerous impulse that directly conflicts with family authority, economic ambition, and class expectations. The poems continuously explore the finality of death and the inability of the living to cut ties with the dead. Kinship is stripped of its ideal status, revealed instead as a source of violent control where brothers, mothers, and fathers inflict fatal harm to preserve family honor or pride. The central argument across these songs is that repressed desires and forced choices inevitably lead to bloodletting, leaving survivors with nothing but guilt, exile, and endless grief.

Why Read It Today

This collection appeals to readers who value raw, unsentimental folk traditions and dramatic narrative verse. Reading these ballads feels like stepping into a cold, shadowy landscape where ordinary domestic spaces become scenes of sudden tragedy. The verse moves at a rapid pace, unburdened by lengthy description, relying on direct dialogue and stark repetition to build tension.

The collection requires some patience with regional dialects, archaic Scottish vocabulary, and inconsistent historical spellings. Modern readers must also navigate period attitudes surrounding quick revenge, forced marriages, and severe domestic cruelty. Yet the core emotional weight remains remarkably clear. The lingering power of the book lies in its haunting imagery—ghosts standing at windows asking for their troth, blood-stained garments hidden from inquiring mothers, and lovers buried side by side in the churchyard. It is a vital record of how early singers understood love, mortality, and the darker impulses of human nature.