You'd be right, Jim, if were talking about an theory dreamed up from nothing.

But in fact, our suspicions about these ballads are based on evidence textual and contextual.

Nobody is asserting that all, or most, or even very many reported texts of Child ballads are phony. In theory one could point a finger at any text and claim that the collector had faked it.

It seemed possible that Mackenzie's 1919 was simply copied (or badly copied) by his schoolgirl (presumably a teenager), possibly on the basis of a few words recalled by Matheson.

But Richie reports that it was rather more different than that, and different from any other printed version. It would be nice to know whether Matheson and Henderson knew each other, or had mutual acquaintances.

In any event, and whatever the "ultimate" source, Matheson's version so far appears to be as legitimate as the text of any other ballad not transmitted by print.

Gainer's song seems far more questionable.

Experience with Scott and others makes it certain that some ballad texts are forgeries. Experience with collectors - and the sort of people who become collectors - suggests that that number, while real, is very low. Richie may have discovered one or two of the few.