The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #163826   Message #3915409
Posted By: Richard Mellish
05-Apr-18 - 01:26 PM
Thread Name: Origins: James Madison Carpenter- Child Ballads 2
Subject: RE: Origins: James Madison Carpenter- Child Ballads 2
Feature D, the maid asks him to turn his back for "it is not fitting that a naked woman he should see", does indeed come in many of the English language versions, and yet it seems the least plausible of the methods by which the girl could overcome the villain. But then seducing and murdering one king's daughter after another seems an overly complicated way of acquiring riches. I find it easier to suspend disbelief for some of the ballads involving magic than for this one.