Hello,

I'm trying to track down a ballad that I know only from a fragment given by Stanley Robertson in the School of Scottish Studies publication Tocher, #40. As far as I know it's not in Child or Bronson, though I could of course be wrong about that. I haven't found it in Greig-Duncan either.

The story is of Lady Marcie (Lady Marcia?) who, while out wandering by a "hallow" tree (which Stanley specifically mentions does not mean "hollow") sees an enticing stranger riding a horse.

Intrigued, she returns, and sees him again, but has trouble actually seeing the horse.

On the third visit she realizes that the stranger is not in fact a man, but "half man and half beast," a centaur. But she's in love with him, and when he invites her, absconds with him in a cloud of metaphors, never to be seen again by mortals.

Does anyone have any leads on this ballad? Stanley says in the article that he heard it from a traveller, Maggie Stewart.

thanks in advance,
Kim