Mr Beard,
Whilst 32 is undoubtedly of great ancestry as a story, its existence as a ballad in Scots is rather suspect as far as oral tradition goes. The single source is from a well-to-do lady, Mrs Brown (other versions having been worked over by poets). Some of its components exist in other ballads, some of these ballads also suspect. The whole subject of the provenance of much of the Britiah ballads is a thorny one. Both Jamieson and Scott have had their fingers in the pie and they are hardly reliable sources. Of course if one isn't worried about the provenance of a ballad none of this matters one jot, it's a fine enough ballad/story.

Steve the Skeptic