The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #140911   Message #3247562
Posted By: Brian Peters
31-Oct-11 - 09:06 AM
Thread Name: Child Ballads: US Versions
Subject: RE: Child Ballads: US Versions
"Apparently 'The Deil's Courting,' Motherwell's Manuscript,' p. 103, (what's the date?) is found also in Crawford Collection of about 1827 (Lyle). Does anyone have that version. Is it the same as Motherwell's?"

No, it's not. The 'Deil's Courtship' from Crawfurd (also included in Motherwell's MS, I believe) is a different ballad, related to the English song 'The Keys of Canterbury' and also the well-known 'Paper of Pins'. The Devil bribes a woman to go along with him, his true nature being revealed by a tell-tale cloven foot.

Chambers 'Popular Rhymes of Scotland' has another version of the same ballad, in which the Devil appears only in the spoken introduction and postscript. Child didn't include the ballad, though, so presumably it's outside the scope of your study. I do have texts if you need them.