Keir Hardy's Scottish childhood background (an illigitinmate child raised by his mother in poverty)may have meant that he heard ballads being sung by his mother. At one point he could have been describing her when he wrote:

"(a woman who)never fussed, patching, darning, knitting or sewing, keeping the cradle gently rocking with a light touch as she crooned some old ballad… She ruled her little kingdom in love and gentle firmness."