Interesting, Steve. Is there somewhere I could access a copy of that 'Duke's Daughter' broadside? Very sorry not to have been able to attend the seminar last Saturday!

Re the penances, I was interested enough to check the parallels.

Scots texts Child 20 have:
Seven years as Bird (or fowl) in a Tree (wood)
Seven years a fish in the sea (flood)
Seven years to ring a (church) bell
Seven years as a porter in hell

Maid & Palmer has 7 year penances:
Stepping stone/ clapper in bell / lead an ape in hell

Reilly WBTV has:
Ringing the bell / porting in hell

Moran has:
Wolf in the woods / fish in the flood
Ringing the bell / burning in hell

North American versions in Bronson commonly end with the threat or actuality of hellfire, but several have other penances as well.

Ben Henneberry, Nova Scotia (coll. Creighton) had:
Beast in the woods / fish in the sea / toll the bell

Ellen Bigney, Nova Scotia had:
Ring a bell / owl in the woods / whale in the sea

R. W. Duncan, Nova Scotia had:
Roll a stone / toll a bell

Theresa Corbett, Newfoundland had:
Roll a stone / stand alone / ring a bell / spend in hell

Peter Cole, Pennsylvania had:
Wash and wring / card and spin / ring them bells / serve in hell

I've no idea whether that proves anything at all - but I once studied paleontology, so trying to discern links between fossils comes as second nature. Finding characteristically Scottish ballad elements in Nova Scotia isn't the biggest surprise in the world, but there does seem to have been a degree of creativity within oral tradition (owls, whales, laundry?). I wonder whether the act of 'rolling a stone' is some kind of throwback to the 'stepping stone' of Child 21? Or maybe a New Testament reference?

Anyone know where to find parallels for those kind of penances from inside or outside the ballad world?