From Baring-Gould printed in the Appendix of "Notes on the Folk Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders" by William Henderson, 1866. (The authenticity of this version has been questioned by Eleanor Long in her book, "The Maid and the Hangman"). Baring-Gould also reprinted this with his own notes in "Curiosities of Olden Times".

10. THE GOLDEN BALL. (Yorkshire.)

There were two lasses, daughters of one mother, and as they came home from t' fair, they saw a right bonny young man stand it house-door before them. They niver seed such a bonny man afore. He had gold on t' cap, gold on t' finger, gold on t' neck, a red gold watch-chain—eh! but he had brass. He had a golden ball in each hand. He gave a ball to each lass, and she was to keep it, and if she lost it, she was to be hanged. One o' the lasses, 't was t' youngest, lost her ball. [I'll tell thee how'. She was by a park-paling, and she was tossing her ball, and it went up, and up, and up, tilk it went fair over t' paling; and when she climbed up to look, t' ball ran along green grass, and it went raite forward to t' door of t' house, and t' ball went in and she saw 't no more.]

So she was taken away to be hanged by t' neck till she were dead, a cause she'd lost her ball.

[But she had a sweetheart, and he said he would get ball. So he went tu't park-gate, but't was shut; so he climbed hedge, and when he got tut top of hedge, an old woman rose up out of t' dyke afore him, and said, if he would get ball, he must sleep three nights in t' house. He said he would.

Then he went into t' house, and looked for ball, but could na find it. Night came on and he heard spirits move it courtyard; so he looked out o't' window, and t' yard was full of them, like maggots in rotten meat.

Presently he heard steps coming upstairs. He hid behind door, and was as still as a mouse. Then in came a big giant five times as tall as he were, and giant looked round but did not see t' lad, so he went tut window and bowed to look out; and as he bowed on his elbows to see spirits it yard, t' lad stepped behind him, and wi' one blow of his sword he cut him in twain, so that the top part of him fell in the yard, and t' bottom part stood looking out of t window.

There was a great cry from t' spirits when they saw half the giant come tumbling down to them, and they called out, 'There comes half our master, give us t' other half.'

So the lad said, 'It's no use of thee, thou pair of legs, standing aloan at window, as thou hast no een to see with, so go join thy brother;' and he cast the bottom part of t' giant after top part. Now when the spirrits had gotten all t' giant they were quiet.

Next night t' lad was at the house again, and now a second giant came in at door, and as he came in t' lad cut him in twain, but the legs walked on tut chimney and went up them. 'Go, get thee after thy legs,' said t' lad tut head, and he cast t' head up chimney too.

The third night t' lad got into bed, and he heard spirits striving under the bed, and they had t' ball there, and they was casting it to and fro.

Now one of them has his leg thrussen out from under bed, Bo t' lad brings his sword down and cuts it off. Then another thrusts his arm out at other side of the bed, and t' lad cuts that off. So at last he had maimed them all, and they all went crying and wailing off, and forgot t' ball, but he took it from under t' bed, and went to seek his truelove.]

Now t' lass was taken to York to be hanged; she was brought out on t' scaffold, and t' hangman said, 'Now, lass, tha' must hang by t' neck till tha be'st dead.' But she cried out:

Stop, stop, I think I see my mother coming!
Oh mother, hast brought my golden ball
And come to set me free?

I've neither brought thy golden ball
Nor come to set thee free,
But I have come to see thee hung
Upon this gallows-tree.

Then the hangman said, 'Now, lass, say thy prayers, for tha must dee.' But she said:

Stop, stop, I think I see my father coming!
0 father, hast brought my golden ball
And come to set me free?

I've neither brought thy golden ball
Nor come to set thee free.
But I have come to see thee hung
Upon this gallows-tree.

Then the hangman said,'Hast thee done thy prayers? Now, lass, put thy head intut noo-is.'

But she answered, 'Stop, stop, I think I see my brother coming!' &c. After which, she excused herself because she thought she saw her sister coming, then her uncle, then her aunt, then her cousin, each of which was related in full; after which the hangman said, 'I wee-nt stop no longer, tha's making gam of me. Tha must be hung at once.'

But now she saw her sweetheart coming through the crowd, and he had over head i' t' air her own golden ball; so she said:

Stop, stop, I see my sweetheart coming!
Sweetheart, hast brought my golden ball
And come to set me free?

Aye, I have brought thy golden ball
And come to set thee free;
I have not come to see thee hung
Upon this gallows-tree.

Notes: The portions of this curious tale which are enclosed within brackets were obtained from a different informant. It seems to be a Yorkshire version of Grimm's 'Fearless John' (Kinder-Mahrchen, 4). In both these is the giant cut in half, and the incident of the chimney, and also the wonderful bed.

In one of Grimm's versions of the tale, the lad is able to overcome the spirits by means of a stick which he obtained from a dead man on the gallows, the man having been hung for a theft which he had not committed. The boy brings him to Christian burial, and in reward obtains the stick. In the Yorkshire story, the lad saves a girl from the gallows by means of a golden ball he had recovered from the spirits. There is a family likeness in the tales.

The other portion of the story resembles the popular Essex game of ' Mary Brown,' which is thus played:

The children form a ring, one girl kneeling in the centre; those in the ring sing out:

Here we all stand round the ring,
And now we shut poor Mary in.
Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown
And see your poor mother go through the town.

To this she answers:

I will not rise upon my feet
To see my poor mother go through the street.

The children bid her rise to see her poor father, then her brother, her sister, the poor beggars go through the street, and lastly, her poor sweetheart, whereupon she rises to her feet.

The Swedish 'Fair Gundela' also resembles it.