Long ago, I borrowed a book with a title such as Traditional Tunes to the Child Ballads through Interlibrary Loan. I don't remember the author's name, but how many books of that nature can there be?

I gather that collectors paid little attention to the tunes of the ballads. They were interested in the ballads as literature, not as music. I'm sure that some of the tunes were written down by real amateur, as they seemed unplayable.

The book did have tunes written out, but most of them were drab and uninteresting. I copied the few I found worthwhile, and of them, I now remember only one, a tune for Lord Randall which sounds like a slow air. There were no chords in the book, but the tunes are so simple that chords should be easy to work out.

Of course, a real folkie would want to see for himelf. Maybe something that looked drab to me will appeal to you. If I were you, I would go to a public library and see if it has or could borrow a book for you.

Another good idea is to make up a tune yourself. There are already many tunes for any one story. what's wrong with another one?