Bob Stewart in 'Where Is Saint George' [Blandford Press 1988 ISBN 0 7137 2030 1 ]comments on this song:
   'the images of the ballad suggest that it was based upon an older song or visual theme dealing with the sacrificial rite common to most folk-memories of pagan worship linking an Egyptian myth with the story of Osiris and his collective murder...
   ... a common sense explanation of the plot does not hold together. the group attack is reminiscent of the classically recorded collective responsibility for the ritual murder...' [p52]
He concludes [p.56]
    ' Songs such as 'Bruton Town' and 'The Three Butchers' pose real problems of definition, but also give insight into the complex routes that ancient images can travel'.