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Child Ballads

360 statements
70 feature instances
103 referencing feature instances

Child Ballads	type	TVTItem
Child Ballads	label	Child Ballads
Child Ballads	page	ChildBallads
Child Ballads	comment	Has nothing to do with children.In the late 19th century, Harvard professor Francis James Child was concerned that the tradition of folk songs in the British Isles were endangered—songs were dying out, unrecorded. He made it his personal mission to collect as many traditional folk songs as he could from England and Scotland. (Including Ireland, he felt, was way too ambitious a goal.)He got about 300 of them, not including variants; many of the ballads have a dozen variants, or more, and most have several — though some are only fragmentary. (Some versions you may be familiar with have had verses created by the person performing them, to make the song make sense.) Even today, ballads are often referred to by the numbers Child assigned them. See here for the full text of The English and Scottish Popular Ballads.They range, as ballads often do, from Fairy Tales in verse form all the way through to accounts of historical events, with historical characters, perhaps a little refined for story form. Many are recognizably popular forms of medieval Chivalric Romances.Many of them are heavy on dialect, especially the Border Ballads, those collected on the English-Scottish border. Metrical considerations means that using standard English often requires a total rewrite. This also helps keep the number of Evil or Overbearing Mothers high compared to Wicked Stepmothers since the scansion and meter of "mother" note Two beats, emphasis on the first and "stepmother" note Three beats, with a primary emphasis on the first and a secondary emphasis on the second. are not interchangeable. A Wicked Stepmother appears in different ballads than the Evil Matriarch.Many Murder Ballads are Child Ballads. Robin Hood has so many that Child lumps them all together in their own volume.Child Ballads may be thought of as the Scottish/English branch of a larger collection of Medieval Ballads. Medieval ballads are found in all countries around the North Sea, from Iceland to Sweden.Those interested in a more thorough and detailed discussion might wish to check out this post and comment thread. Child Ballads with their own page: "Willie's Lady" (#6) "Tam Lin" (#39) "Young Beichan" (#53) "Sir Aldingar" (#59) "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (#81) "Fause Foodrage" (#89) "The Famous Flower of Serving Men" (#106) "The Lord of Lorn and the False Steward" (#271)
Child Ballads	fetched	2023-04-16T03:42:38Z
Child Ballads	parsed	2023-04-16T03:42:38Z
Child Ballads	processingComment	Dropped link to RobinHood: Not a Feature - ITEM
Child Ballads	processingComment	Dropped link to Yandere: Not a Feature - ITEM
Child Ballads	isPartOf	DBTropes
Child Ballads / int_197b546a	type	Scarpia Ultimatum
Child Ballads / int_197b546a	comment	Scarpia Ultimatum: The bandit does this to three sisters in "Bonnie Banks o'Fordie" (#14)
Child Ballads / int_197b546a	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_197b546a	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_197b546a
Child Ballads / int_1a09b4f9	type	The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry
Child Ballads / int_1a09b4f9	comment	The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: "The Twa Sisters" (#10) is about two sisters who are in love with the same man. It ends in murder.
Child Ballads / int_1a09b4f9	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_1a09b4f9	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_1a09b4f9
Child Ballads / int_1fb440a6	type	Voluntary Shapeshifting
Child Ballads / int_1fb440a6	comment	Voluntary Shapeshifting: Evil shapeshifters will often have a Red Right Hand (e.g. "The House Carpenter", #243). Good shapeshifters are rare, but see "The Great Selkie of Sule Skerry" (#113).
Child Ballads / int_1fb440a6	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_1fb440a6	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_1fb440a6
Child Ballads / int_22948239	type	A Year and a Day
Child Ballads / int_22948239	comment	A Year and a Day: In "The Unquiet Grave" (#78), it's perfectly fine for the protagonist to mourn on their dead lover's grave for this long. Played with in that, when they keep it up past that time limit, the dead lover's ghost comes back to tell them to 'Sod off already, it's feckin' annoying.'
Child Ballads / int_22948239	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_22948239	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_22948239
Child Ballads / int_269e82c1	type	Death of a Child
Child Ballads / int_269e82c1	comment	Death of a Child: Happens in many ballads: "The Cruel Mother" (#20) and "The Maid and the Palmer" (#21) are about mothers who killed or kill their own infants. "Sir Patrick Spens" (#58) may be based on the ill-fated voyage of seven-year-old Margaret, Maid of Norway (and heiress to the Scottish crown) from Norway to Scotland. As in real life, she dies in the ballad—though in a shipwreck rather than of an illness. "Lamkin" (#93) goes into graphic detail about the murder of a baby and his mother.
Child Ballads / int_269e82c1	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_269e82c1	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_269e82c1
Child Ballads / int_27ab0123	type	Offing the Offspring
Child Ballads / int_27ab0123	comment	Offing the Offspring: The cruel mother in "The Cruel Mother" (#20) and the maid in "The Maid and the Palmer" (#21) killed their own babies.
Child Ballads / int_27ab0123	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_27ab0123	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_27ab0123
Child Ballads / int_352def2a	type	Burn the Witch!
Child Ballads / int_352def2a	comment	Burn the Witch!: In some versions of the ballad "Young Hunting" (#47; a.k.a. Earl Richard/ Love Henry) the lady gets punished this way for killing her lover. Certain versions also include her trying to pin the murder on her maid, who gets acquitted because she won't burn no matter what the king's men try.
Child Ballads / int_352def2a	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_352def2a	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_352def2a
Child Ballads / int_373e2b9f	type	Murder the Hypotenuse
Child Ballads / int_373e2b9f	comment	Murder the Hypotenuse: The older sister in "Twa Sisters" (#10) and the Nut-Brown Maid in "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (#73) both do this.
Child Ballads / int_373e2b9f	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_373e2b9f	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_373e2b9f
Child Ballads / int_3a234e46	type	Runaway Bride
Child Ballads / int_3a234e46	comment	Runaway Bride: A the end of Hind Horn (#17), Jean elopes with her true love, Hind Horn, even though she's newly wed to someone else.
Child Ballads / int_3a234e46	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_3a234e46	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_3a234e46
Child Ballads / int_3f7a958b	type	Secret Test of Character
Child Ballads / int_3f7a958b	comment	Secret Test of Character: Lovers are very fond of this, feigning poverty, or their own deaths, to discover whether the other really is in love with them.
Child Ballads / int_3f7a958b	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_3f7a958b	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_3f7a958b
Child Ballads / int_3fe2b13f	type	Ungrateful Bastard
Child Ballads / int_3fe2b13f	comment	Ungrateful Bastard: The Captain in "The Golden Vanity" (#286). He abandons the cabin-boy who sank the enemy ship for him to drown in the ocean. The Knight in "The Fair Flower of Northumberland". He promises the Fair Flower he'll marry her if she only breaks him out of jail, but when they get back to his home in Scotland, he cruelly reveals he's already married and abandons her.
Child Ballads / int_3fe2b13f	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_3fe2b13f	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_3fe2b13f
Child Ballads / int_4063acfd	type	Woman Scorned
Child Ballads / int_4063acfd	comment	Woman Scorned: In "Child Owlet" (#291), Lady Erskine tries to seduce her husband's nephew, Child Owlet. He turns her down, so she tells her husband that he tried to seduce her and then commits suicide. In response, Child Owlet's uncle orders his execution. Genderflipped in "Sir Aldingar" (#59): the queen turns down a pass from the Villain Protagonist and so he makes it look like she was unfaithful to the king with a leper. Luckily, in this case, the Man Scorned's plot fails.
Child Ballads / int_4063acfd	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_4063acfd	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_4063acfd
Child Ballads / int_44bd31e2	type	Trope Codifier
Child Ballads / int_44bd31e2	comment	"The Elfin Knight" (#2) is pretty much the Trope Codifier: a pair of ex-lovers challenge each other to impossible tasks which they want the other to fulfill before they would love them again.
Child Ballads / int_44bd31e2	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_44bd31e2	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_44bd31e2
Child Ballads / int_4a5fcde	type	Adaptational Alternate Ending
Child Ballads / int_4a5fcde	comment	Adaptational Alternate Ending: "King Orfeo" is a retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice, but Orfeo actually gets his wife back in this one.
Child Ballads / int_4a5fcde	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_4a5fcde	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_4a5fcde
Child Ballads / int_4a8fd6a0	type	Honor-Related Abuse
Child Ballads / int_4a8fd6a0	comment	Honor-Related Abuse: In "Lady Maisry" (#65), the Scottish protagonist is killed by her family for becoming pregnant out of wedlock by an Englishman. In "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (#81), Lord Barnard kills Little Musgrave and his wife for having an affair. In "Andrew Lammie" (#233), Tifty's Annie falls in love with Andrew Lammie and refuses to marry a lord. In response, her father and brother beat her to force her into marriage. She remains steadfast in her refusal, though, and her father and/or brother kill her. The protagonist of "The Rantin Laddie" (#240) gives birth to her lover's bastard child, and is thereafter confined to the kitchen, scorned by her family, shunned by her friends, and even disrespected by the servants. In a rare happy ending for this trope, she manages to send a letter to the father of the child (the titular Rantin' Laddie), who arrives to rescue her.
Child Ballads / int_4a8fd6a0	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_4a8fd6a0	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_4a8fd6a0
Child Ballads / int_4c3f14e0	type	You Are Too Late
Child Ballads / int_4c3f14e0	comment	You Are Too Late: In "Lady Maisry" (#65), the Scottish protagonist becomes pregnant by her true love and her family arranges for her execution. A page runs to fetch Maisry's true love to save her, but they return to find that they are too late and Maisry is already dead.
Child Ballads / int_4c3f14e0	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_4c3f14e0	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_4c3f14e0
Child Ballads / int_4e3d253b	type	Downer Ending
Child Ballads / int_4e3d253b	comment	Downer Ending: Many ballads play this trope straight, others have endings that would have been considered happy in days past, but fall short of the mark by today's standards. Some "happy endings" are pretty horrific to modern audiences. Ballad 110, wherein we learn that if a young woman is raped and the perpetrator is single, she will be forced to marry her rapist, whether she wants to or not.
Child Ballads / int_4e3d253b	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_4e3d253b	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_4e3d253b
Child Ballads / int_50b05d30	type	Disproportionate Retribution
Child Ballads / int_50b05d30	comment	Disproportionate Retribution: In the versions of the ballad that give him a motive, Lamkin is a stonemason who brutally murders a lord's wife and infant son because the lord didn't pay him.
Child Ballads / int_50b05d30	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_50b05d30	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_50b05d30
Child Ballads / int_590eb583	type	Domestic Abuse
Child Ballads / int_590eb583	comment	Domestic Abuse: In "Wee Cooper of Fife" (#277) the cooper beats or threatens to beat his wife for refusing to do housework.
Child Ballads / int_590eb583	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_590eb583	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_590eb583
Child Ballads / int_598ad6e2	type	Even the Guys Want Him
Child Ballads / int_598ad6e2	comment	Even the Guys Want Him: "Willie O'Winsbury" (#100), also known as "John Barbour" or "Tom the Barber." In each version, the king's daughter becomes pregnant by the title character, and the king decides to give his blessing to the match after seeing how handsome the young man is. The version recorded by Pentangle contains this lyric:
Child Ballads / int_598ad6e2	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_598ad6e2	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_598ad6e2
Child Ballads / int_59aa1d0b	type	Recycled IN SPACE!
Child Ballads / int_59aa1d0b	comment	Recycled INSPACE: Some ballads are clearly variants of older stories—"King Orfeo" (#19), for instance, is a retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. With The Fair Folk.
Child Ballads / int_59aa1d0b	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_59aa1d0b	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_59aa1d0b
Child Ballads / int_5bca5a56	type	Surprise Incest
Child Ballads / int_5bca5a56	comment	Surprise Incest: In "The Bonny Hind" (#50) and "The King's Dochter Lady Jean" (#52) with tragic consequences.
Child Ballads / int_5bca5a56	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_5bca5a56	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_5bca5a56
Child Ballads / int_606244c2	type	Parental Incest
Child Ballads / int_606244c2	comment	Parental Incest: In some variants of "The Maid and the Palmer" (#21),the Maid's six dead children were fathered by her own father. In "Brown Robyn's Confession" (#57), the protagonist confesses to having fathered two children with his mother.
Child Ballads / int_606244c2	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_606244c2	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_606244c2
Child Ballads / int_63d861f8	type	Even Evil Has Loved Ones
Child Ballads / int_63d861f8	comment	Even Evil Has Loved Ones/My God, What Have I Done?: "Bonnie Banks o'Fordie" (#14). An outlaw comes upon three sisters in the woods. He threatens each one in turn to make her marry him. The first two refuse and are killed. The third threatens him with her brother or brothers. He asks after them and discovers that he is the brother. He commits suicide.
Child Ballads / int_63d861f8	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_63d861f8	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_63d861f8
Child Ballads / int_66479d0	type	Our Ghosts Are Different
Child Ballads / int_66479d0	comment	Our Ghosts Are Different: Though, in ballads, it's always a bad idea to be in love with a dead person, they're not necessarily evil per se. Ghosts and other revenants can pop up to drive their killers crazy ("The Cruel Mother", #20), or just to say goodbye ("Sweet William's Ghost", #77; "The Wife of Usher's Well", #79).
Child Ballads / int_66479d0	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_66479d0	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_66479d0
Child Ballads / int_6787588e	type	The Pardon
Child Ballads / int_6787588e	comment	The Pardon: Often asked for, not always granted.
Child Ballads / int_6787588e	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_6787588e	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_6787588e
Child Ballads / int_76df59f1	type	Thicker Than Water
Child Ballads / int_76df59f1	comment	Thicker Than Water: In "The Death of Robin Hood" (#120), Robin Hood trusts this trope and it gets him killed. Specifically, he goes to have one of his cousins, a nun, treat his illness by bleeding. But his cousin, who harbors a grudge against him of varying reasons, either bleeds him too much or lets her lover kill him.
Child Ballads / int_76df59f1	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_76df59f1	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_76df59f1
Child Ballads / int_771f6307	type	Brother–Sister Incest
Child Ballads / int_771f6307	comment	Brother–Sister Incest: In some variants of "The Maid and the Palmer" (#21),the Maid's six dead children were fathered by her brother. In "Brown Robyn's Confession" (#57), the protagonist confesses to having fathered five children with his sister.
Child Ballads / int_771f6307	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_771f6307	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_771f6307
Child Ballads / int_780a078e	type	Self-Made Orphan
Child Ballads / int_780a078e	comment	Self-Made Orphan: In "Jellon Grame" (#90), Jellon's daughter kills him. It's Justified, though, because Jellon killed her mother.
Child Ballads / int_780a078e	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_780a078e	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_780a078e
Child Ballads / int_7921ad77	type	Actually, I Am Him
Child Ballads / int_7921ad77	comment	Actually, I Am Him: Played for tragedy in "Bonnie Banks o'Fordie" (#14) A young woman tells a bandit who's trying to rape her that her brother will surely take vengeance on him, only for the bandit to realize that he is the brother she's talking about.
Child Ballads / int_7921ad77	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_7921ad77	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_7921ad77
Child Ballads / int_7aea8bae	type	Murder Ballad
Child Ballads / int_7aea8bae	comment	Murder Ballad: If no one's getting stabbed to death or drowned by their own siblings (either by accident or out of jealousy), poisoned by their parents (for making an unapproved marriage), shot or stabbed by a jealous lover or spouse (too many to count), dying of heartbreak and/or shame, or killing themselves, is it really a Child ballad?
Child Ballads / int_7aea8bae	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_7aea8bae	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_7aea8bae
Child Ballads / int_81ae2774	type	Evil Matriarch
Child Ballads / int_81ae2774	comment	Evil Matriarch: In "The Lass of Roch Royal" (#76), the mother turns away her son's lover and his baby, although they will (and do) die in the cold weather.*
Child Ballads / int_81ae2774	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_81ae2774	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_81ae2774
Child Ballads / int_822ff0d7	type	Relative Error
Child Ballads / int_822ff0d7	comment	Relative Error: In "Child Maurice" (#83), the husband of Child Maurice's mother mistakes him for her lover and kills him for it.
Child Ballads / int_822ff0d7	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_822ff0d7	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_822ff0d7
Child Ballads / int_859ec5d8	type	The Fair Folk
Child Ballads / int_859ec5d8	comment	The Fair Folk: True to older folklore, most of the fairies and elves who appears in the ballads are right bastards. In "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" (#4), the Elf knight entices the protagonist to run away with him (though whether by means of flattery or magic depends on the version) and turns out to be The Bluebeard who intends to rape and kill her, as he's done to numerous other women in the past. She outwits him, though, and kills himself instead. In "King Orfeo" (#19), the king of the fairies kidnaps the protagonist's wife, Heurodis, just because he can. In "The Queen of Elfan's Nourice" (#40), a woman is kidnapped to nurse the children of the Fairy Queen. In "Hind Etin" (#41), Lady Margaret is abducted by the eponymous Hind Etin and bears him seven sons.
Child Ballads / int_859ec5d8	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_859ec5d8	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_859ec5d8
Child Ballads / int_882cd7d1	type	Double In-Law Marriage
Child Ballads / int_882cd7d1	comment	Double In-Law Marriage: "Rose the Red and White Lily" not only ends with a pair of sisters marrying a pair of brothers, the brothers are their stepbrothers.
Child Ballads / int_882cd7d1	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_882cd7d1	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_882cd7d1
Child Ballads / int_88cee6e2	type	Abhorrent Admirer
Child Ballads / int_88cee6e2	comment	Abhorrent Admirer: "Kemp Owyne" (#34), "Alison Gross" (#35). Folklorists refer to this trope as the “loathly lady”, and the abhorrent admirer is typically under a curse; when that is broken, she reverts to her true form, which isn’t at all abhorrent.
Child Ballads / int_88cee6e2	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_88cee6e2	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_88cee6e2
Child Ballads / int_898ff050	type	Villain Protagonist
Child Ballads / int_898ff050	comment	Genderflipped in "Sir Aldingar" (#59): the queen turns down a pass from the Villain Protagonist and so he makes it look like she was unfaithful to the king with a leper. Luckily, in this case, the Man Scorned's plot fails.
Child Ballads / int_898ff050	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_898ff050	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_898ff050
Child Ballads / int_98d3f973	type	Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe
Child Ballads / int_98d3f973	comment	Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: In "Gil Breton", the child's birth comes with magical affirmation of his paternity, to avert this.
Child Ballads / int_98d3f973	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_98d3f973	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_98d3f973
Child Ballads / int_9d080c44	type	Ice Queen
Child Ballads / int_9d080c44	comment	Ice Queen: Barbara Allen in "Barbara Allen" (#84). She only starts to defrost after a young man dies because of her.
Child Ballads / int_9d080c44	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_9d080c44	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_9d080c44
Child Ballads / int_a09f3a65	type	Sibling Triangle
Child Ballads / int_a09f3a65	comment	Sibling Triangle: The older sister's motive in "The Twa Sisters" (#10).
Child Ballads / int_a09f3a65	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_a09f3a65	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_a09f3a65
Child Ballads / int_a70223	type	Karma Houdini
Child Ballads / int_a70223	comment	Karma Houdini: In some versions of "The Twa Sisters", the older sister gets their lover and all his land scot-free, leaving the miller who robbed the younger sister's corpse (or, in particularly dark iterations, pulled her out while she was still alive to take her gold ring and then threw her back) to take all the blame.
Child Ballads / int_a70223	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_a70223	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_a70223
Child Ballads / int_a8abe9d1	type	Separated by a Common Language
Child Ballads / int_a8abe9d1	comment	Separated by a Common Language: Though ostensibly written in English, a lot of the ballads are in old rural dialects that are nigh-indecipherable. However, hearing them sung or recited can make it easier.
Child Ballads / int_a8abe9d1	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_a8abe9d1	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_a8abe9d1
Child Ballads / int_a91f07ee	type	"No Peeking!" Request
Child Ballads / int_a91f07ee	comment	"No Peeking!" Request: In one of the variants for the "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" ballad, called "The Outlandish Knight". A knight and a lady are planning to elope to his faraway home via a boat, but actually is planning to throw her into the sea and make off with her money. When they arrive in the boat, he asks her to Take Off Your Clothes, since her silken dress is too valuable and would rot during the trip. She tells him to turn away while she strips, and he does so, only for her to push him over the edge as he has his back turned, since she figured out he planned to drown her.
Child Ballads / int_a91f07ee	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_a91f07ee	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_a91f07ee
Child Ballads / int_ab88f865	type	Traumatic C-Section
Child Ballads / int_ab88f865	comment	Traumatic C-Section: In "Jellon Grame" (#90), the protagonist gives one to his lover and raises the baby himself.
Child Ballads / int_ab88f865	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_ab88f865	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_ab88f865
Child Ballads / int_b070362d	type	Wicked Stepmother
Child Ballads / int_b070362d	comment	Wicked Stepmother: In "Kemp Owyne" and "The Laily Worm and the Machrel Sea", the unfortunate protagonists have been transformed into various ugly and dangerous beasts by their wicked stepmothers.
Child Ballads / int_b070362d	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_b070362d	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_b070362d
Child Ballads / int_b77eb3b2	type	Revenge by Proxy
Child Ballads / int_b77eb3b2	comment	Revenge by Proxy: A noblewoman and her infant son in "Lamkin" (#93) are brutally murdered because her killers harbor a grudge against her husband.
Child Ballads / int_b77eb3b2	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_b77eb3b2	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_b77eb3b2
Child Ballads / int_b97c1d0b	type	Standard Hero Reward
Child Ballads / int_b97c1d0b	comment	Standard Hero Reward: Subverted in "The Golden Vanity" (#286). The hero is told this is the reward, if he drills holes in the enemy man-o'-war, which he does (In a horribly poetic way: He let the water in, and it dazzled in their eyes, and he sunk them in the Low Lands Low.) He is then betrayed by the captain and is abandoned to drown in the ocean.
Child Ballads / int_b97c1d0b	featureApplicability	-0.3
Child Ballads / int_b97c1d0b	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_b97c1d0b
Child Ballads / int_b9f6cc0a	type	The Bluebeard
Child Ballads / int_b9f6cc0a	comment	In "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" (#4), the Elf knight entices the protagonist to run away with him (though whether by means of flattery or magic depends on the version) and turns out to be The Bluebeard who intends to rape and kill her, as he's done to numerous other women in the past. She outwits him, though, and kills himself instead.
Child Ballads / int_b9f6cc0a	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_b9f6cc0a	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_b9f6cc0a
Child Ballads / int_bbec7823	type	Bedroom Adultery Scene
Child Ballads / int_bbec7823	comment	Bedroom Adultery Scene: In "Our Goodman" (#274) the husband finds more and more evidence that his wife is cheating on him, until he finally catches the lover in the bedroom. The wife tries to explain he's really a milkmaid. The husband sarcastically notes that he's never seen a milkmaid with a beard before. In "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (or "Matty Groves", depending) the jealous Lord Barnard arrives to find his wife in bed with a handsome young servant, and demands the servant get up and get dressed so he can kill him in an honorable duel.
Child Ballads / int_bbec7823	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_bbec7823	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_bbec7823
Child Ballads / int_bd6b86df	type	Impossible Task
Child Ballads / int_bd6b86df	comment	Impossible Task: "The Elfin Knight" (#2) is pretty much the Trope Codifier: a pair of ex-lovers challenge each other to impossible tasks which they want the other to fulfill before they would love them again.
Child Ballads / int_bd6b86df	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_bd6b86df	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_bd6b86df
Child Ballads / int_c20dafaf	type	These Questions Three...
Child Ballads / int_c20dafaf	comment	These Questions Three...: In "The Devil's Nine Questions", it's the subtype "Riddles Wisely Expounded". The Devil challenges one or several human characters to answer nine (= three times three) riddles, threatening he will take to hell whoever cannot give the right answers. At least that is what he says: Many variants contain only eight riddles. (Sometimes explained as the ninth riddle being "Who is the questioner?", which is implicitly rather than explicitly answered.)
Child Ballads / int_c20dafaf	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_c20dafaf	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_c20dafaf
Child Ballads / int_ceec4df5	type	Roaring Rampage of Revenge
Child Ballads / int_ceec4df5	comment	Roaring Rampage of Revenge: In some variants of "Lady Maisry" (#65), the ballads ends with Lady Maisry's true love declaring one against her family for killing her.
Child Ballads / int_ceec4df5	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_ceec4df5	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_ceec4df5
Child Ballads / int_d29a6629	type	Death by Childbirth
Child Ballads / int_d29a6629	comment	Death by Childbirth: In "Sheath and Knife" (#16), the pregnant woman goes with her brother to give birth.
Child Ballads / int_d29a6629	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_d29a6629	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_d29a6629
Child Ballads / int_d34cbda2	type	Implausible Deniability
Child Ballads / int_d34cbda2	comment	Implausible Deniability: "Our Goodman" (#274) is all about a cheating wife trying to explain away evidence of her infidelity. It starts when the husband notices a strange horse outside his house, and she tries to claim it's actually a cow sent by a relative. The lies get more ridiculous from there. Several ballads, like "Edward", are about someone who has obviously committed a murder trying to explain the blood all over his clothes as coming from his hawk, his horse, etc.
Child Ballads / int_d34cbda2	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_d34cbda2	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_d34cbda2
Child Ballads / int_d9f107ef	type	Stock Puzzle
Child Ballads / int_d9f107ef	comment	Stock Puzzle: e.g. "Riddles Wisely Expounded" (#1), "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (#46)
Child Ballads / int_d9f107ef	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_d9f107ef	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_d9f107ef
Child Ballads / int_dfe36898	type	Beware of Hitchhiking Ghosts
Child Ballads / int_dfe36898	comment	Beware Of Hitch Hiking Ghosts: "The Suffolk Miracle" (#272) has this plot (with a horse instead of a car). In the ballad, the hitchhiker is the protagonist's lover, who died of grief when her father prevented him from seeing her; it also makes use of the reappearing garment device (in this case, a handkerchief which shows up in the man's grave).
Child Ballads / int_dfe36898	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_dfe36898	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_dfe36898
Child Ballads / int_e16217f8	type	Historical Villain Upgrade
Child Ballads / int_e16217f8	comment	Historical Villain Upgrade: To Eleanor Of Aquitaine and William Marshal in "Queen Elanor's Confession" (#156). Whatever their faults (and there were many), they didn't have an affair with each other, kill Rosamund de Clifford, or plot to poison Henry II.
Child Ballads / int_e16217f8	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_e16217f8	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_e16217f8
Child Ballads / int_e4b69188	type	Very Loosely Based on a True Story
Child Ballads / int_e4b69188	comment	Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Most of the historical ballads. "Sir Patrick Spens" (#58) is based on the story of Margaret, Maid of Norway, the granddaughter and heir-apparent of Alexander III of Scotland. After her grandfather's death, a ship was sent to Norway to take her back to Scotland to become the new Queen, but she never made it. The ballad has her and the entire crew perishing in a shipwreck, but she actually died of an illness en route. In "Queen Elanor's Confession" (#156), Eleanor of Aquitaine confesses to, among other things, having lost her virginity to William Marshal. Given that Eleanor had her first child, Marie of France, two years before Marshal was born, that is impossible.
Child Ballads / int_e4b69188	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_e4b69188	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_e4b69188
Child Ballads / int_e596f27b	type	Star-Crossed Lovers
Child Ballads / int_e596f27b	comment	Star-Crossed Lovers: Around half of the ballads have these.
Child Ballads / int_e596f27b	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_e596f27b	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_e596f27b
Child Ballads / int_f1919d5b	type	Being Evil Sucks
Child Ballads / int_f1919d5b	comment	Being Evil Sucks: The bandit learns this the hard way in "Bonnie Banks o'Fordie" (#14)
Child Ballads / int_f1919d5b	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_f1919d5b	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_f1919d5b
Child Ballads / int_f3da74ff	type	Creepy Crows
Child Ballads / int_f3da74ff	comment	Creepy Crows: Several ballads depict ravens and crows as creepy, but most especially "The Three Ravens" and its more cynical variant, "The Twa Corbies" (both are #26).
Child Ballads / int_f3da74ff	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_f3da74ff	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_f3da74ff
Child Ballads / int_f4d61c26	type	Creepy Uncle
Child Ballads / int_f4d61c26	comment	Creepy Uncle: In some variants of "The Maid and the Palmer" (#21),the Maid's six dead children were fathered by her uncle.
Child Ballads / int_f4d61c26	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_f4d61c26	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_f4d61c26
Child Ballads / int_f4f3252e	type	Law of Inverse Fertility
Child Ballads / int_f4f3252e	comment	Law of Inverse Fertility: Unmarried women become pregnant very easily, often by extremely unsuitable people, sometimes by their own relatives.
Child Ballads / int_f4f3252e	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_f4f3252e	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_f4f3252e
Child Ballads / int_f6624c30	type	Together in Death
Child Ballads / int_f6624c30	comment	Together in Death: The living lover in "The Unquiet Grave" (#78) seems determined to prematurely fulfill this trope, but the ghost of their beloved always begs them to go and live out the rest of their life instead. Also appears in "Fair Margaret and Sweet William" (#74); "Lord Lovel" (Child#75); some variants of "Barbara Allen" (#84). It's also a common motif for the graves of lovers to sprout plants that are intertwined ("Prince Robert", "Lady Alice").
Child Ballads / int_f6624c30	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_f6624c30	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_f6624c30
Child Ballads / int_f6972f9d	type	The Mourning After
Child Ballads / int_f6972f9d	comment	The Mourning After: "The Unquiet Grave" (#78) initially plays this straight. In the end, though, it's subverted: The living lover's incessant grief prevents their beloved from resting in peace.
Child Ballads / int_f6972f9d	featureApplicability	-0.3
Child Ballads / int_f6972f9d	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_f6972f9d
Child Ballads / int_f6e99f40	type	Youngest Child Wins
Child Ballads / int_f6e99f40	comment	Youngest Child Wins: Sometimes played straight, sometimes subverted: in "The Twa Sisters" (#10), the elder kills the younger and gets the boy. (Although she may later get ratted out by a harp made of her sister's bones and executed, depending on which version she's in.)
Child Ballads / int_f6e99f40	featureApplicability	-0.3
Child Ballads / int_f6e99f40	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_f6e99f40
Child Ballads / int_f85354eb	type	Attempted Rape
Child Ballads / int_f85354eb	comment	Attempted Rape: In "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" (#4), the knight tricks the protagonist into running off with him, only to reveal that he intends to rape and kill her. Fortunately, she kills him instead.
Child Ballads / int_f85354eb	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_f85354eb	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_f85354eb
Child Ballads / int_f9e16ef	type	Distressed Dude
Child Ballads / int_f9e16ef	comment	Distressed Dude: Tam Lin needs to be rescued from the fairy queen before she gives him to Hell.
Child Ballads / int_f9e16ef	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_f9e16ef	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_f9e16ef
Child Ballads / int_fe42181f	type	Selkies and Wereseals
Child Ballads / int_fe42181f	comment	Selkies and Wereseals: In "The Great Selkie of Sule Skerry" (#113)
Child Ballads / int_fe42181f	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_fe42181f	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_fe42181f
Child Ballads / int_name	type	ItemName
Child Ballads / int_name	comment
Child Ballads / int_name	featureApplicability	1.0
Child Ballads / int_name	featureConfidence	1.0
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Child Ballads / int_name
Child Ballads / int_name	itemName	Child Ballads

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Child Ballads	hasFeature	Abhorrent Admirer / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Aren't You Going to Ravish Me? / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Baleful Polymorph / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Beauty Equals Goodness / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Bed Trick / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Bedroom Adultery Scene / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Beware of Hitchhiking Ghosts / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Blue Blood / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Bride and Switch / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Burn the Witch! / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Cannot Tell a Lie / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	seeAlso	Child Ballads
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Cold-Blooded Torture / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Common Meter / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Contrived Coincidence / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Cool Boat / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Cool Horse / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Creepy Crows / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Curse / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Damsel in Distress / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Damsel out of Distress / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Dead Hat Shot / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Dead Person Impersonation / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Death by Childbirth / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Death of a Child / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Deathbed Confession / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Distressed Dude / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Double In-Law Marriage / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Dreaming of Things to Come / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Due to the Dead / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Duel to the Death / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Engagement Challenge / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Even the Guys Want Him / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Evil Is Easy / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Evil Matriarch / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Exact Words / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Excessive Mourning / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Fairest of Them All / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Family-Unfriendly Violence / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Flower Motifs / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Forced Transformation / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Gender Flip / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Gold Digger / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Heir Club for Men / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Honor-Related Abuse / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Human Resources / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Implausible Deniability / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Impossible Task / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Land of Faerie / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Law of Inverse Fertility / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Leonine Contract / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Love Martyr / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Magic A Is Magic A / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Malicious Slander / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Meaningful Rename / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Moses in the Bulrushes / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Murder Ballad / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Murder the Hypotenuse / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Narrative Poem / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	"No Peeking!" Request / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Offing the Offspring / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Old Retainer / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Our Ghosts Are Different / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Parental Marriage Veto / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Patricide / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Pregnant Badass / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Psychopomp / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Rags to Royalty / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Relative Error / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Rescue Romance / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Right Makes Might / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Rule of Seven / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Salvage Pirates / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Second Love / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Secret Test of Character / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Selkies and Wereseals / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Shapeshifter Showdown / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Shapeshifter Swan Song / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Sibling Triangle / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Someone to Remember Him By / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Swarm of Rats / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Sweet Polly Oliver / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Tender Tears / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	The Bluebeard / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	The Cake Is a Lie / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	The Oath-Breaker / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	The Pardon / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	The Promise / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	These Questions Three... / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Together in Death / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Trial by Combat / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	What's Up, King Dude? / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Wicked Stepmother / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Wicked Witch / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Woman Scorned / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	You Have Waited Long Enough / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Youngest Child Wins / int_847f5422
Child Ballads	hasFeature	Scarpia Ultimatum / int_847f5422

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