CapriUni... I am afraid you are intellectualising a bit more than I care to. The qualities that you are imposing upon/into the Ballad you are inspecting, may or may not be there. My impression is that the instigation of meaning and feelings, lies in different realms when we create song with intence poetry like this, and that this search for meanings that you are on is overwrought with personal suplication. I do love your ideas and such, but I think you might want to appreciate each version for what it is... savor each one individually. Draw your conclusions on the instalment plan...

I think this is especially true of these older ballads that one has never heard done... As any thing of beauty requires, the sum of the parts is not as great as the whole.

I am not trying to dissuade you from reaching, stretching, and grasping at the meanings... By all means this must be done as the mystical meanings dance before our very eyes! But lo... the meanings change with the lessons we are learning, and the reification of magical moments makes but a picture-album of what life really is...

Isn't this a magical journey we are on?
I sing the "C" version, with the "A" melody. I have assigned some chords of my own to the melody, and though they are indisputably "incorrect" in strict 'trad' thinking, I like them. I have been working on it for over a year, and my phrasing is still not quite right. First things first!ttr