“The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter”
Description
A knight, drunk, lies with a shepherd's daughter. She goes to the king's castle and calls for justice. With the king's help, she finds the culprit. The king orders the knight to marry her; he laments his fate. (She reveals that she is richer than he.)
Notes
What might be a fragment of this ballad is found in John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont's 1611 play "The Knight of the Burning Pestle", Act II, scene viii:
He set her on a milk-white steed,
And himself upon a gray;
He never turned his face again
But he bore her quite away.
Of course, it might be a fragment of "Lady Isabel" or "The Baffled Knight" or several other ballads as well. - RBW
Cross references
- cf. "Haselbury Girl, The (The Maid of Tottenham, The Aylesbury Girl)"
Recordings
- Lizzie Higgins, "The Forester" (on Voice06)
- John Strachan, "The Royal Forester (The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter" (on FSB5, FSBBAL2) {Bronson's #17.1 in addenda}
References
- Child 110, "The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter" (16 texts)
- Bronson 110, "The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter" (24 versions+5 in addenda, though the last three are variants on each other and of dubious authenticity)
- Percy/Wheatley III, pp. 76-80, "The Knight, and Shepherd's Daughter" (1 text)
- BrownII 31, "The Knight and Shepherd's Daughter" (1 text)
- Creighton-Maritime, pp. 17-18, "The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Greenleaf/Mansfield 15, "The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter" (1 text)
- Peacock, pp. 230-232, "Sir William" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Leach, pp. 315-320, "The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter" (2 texts)
- Friedman, p. 150, "The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter" (1 text)
- Sharp-100E 3, "The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Niles 40, "The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune)
- DBuchan 32, "The Knight and Shepherd's Daughter" (1 text)
- Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 185-186, "The Shepherd's Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Chappell/Wooldridge I, p. 289, "The Shepherd's Daughter" (1 tune, called "Parson Upon Dorothy" in Chappell's sources) {Bronson's #22c}
- BBI, ZN2533, "There was a Shepherd's daughter"
- DT 110, SHEPDAU * SHEPDAU2 SHEPDAU3* SHEPDAU4* SHEPDAU5*
- Roud #67
- BI, C110