The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #117495   Message #2532419
Posted By: Nerd
05-Jan-09 - 06:12 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Well Below the Valley/Maid & Palmer
Subject: RE: Origins: Well below the valley - discuss!
Yes, Q, I like this version. I love the obscurity of "the primrose o' the wood wants a name"; it's one of those refrains that would have been declared pagan and magical in the 19th century.

I love "gars ye wake when ye should sleep," too, and I love that the punishment involves being pregnant for seven years.

It is different enough from the Percy text that I honestly don't think anyone simply sat down with Percy and rewrote it. But, there is obviously a direct common ancestry as well.