“The Clerk's Twa Sons o Owsenford”
Description
The clerk's two sons go to (Paris/Blomsbury/Billsbury/Berwick) to study. They lay with the mayor's two daughters. The mayor condemns them to hang. The clerk comes to buy their freedom but the mayor refuses. He tells his wife they're at a higher school.
Notes
Bronson notes that both his tunes have texts mixed with "The Wife of Usher's Well." Since, however, both appear to be composite, there is no proof that the two are related except that both involve sending children away for education (standard practice among the English nobility in the Middle Ages, even if "education" at the time meant training in weapons). - RBW
References
- Child 72, "The Clerk's Twa Sons o Owsenford" (4 texts)
- Bronson 72, "The Clerk's Twa Sons o Owsenford" (2 versions)
- Leach, pp. 237-238, "The Clerk's Twa Sons o Owsenford" (1 text)
- PBB 53, "The Clerk's Twa Sons o Owsenford" (1 text)
- DBuchan 31, "The Clerk's Twa Sons o Owsenford" (1 text)
- Roud #3902
- BI, C072