"...it might be a good idea to pull them together in one place."

It's been done .... a group of ballad collectors has assembled 'about' 130-150 recorded versions, depending on how you count. (Are 3 recordings by the same artist different? Are recordings using 'almost' the same text but recorded by different artists counted as 'several'?)

If all you want is variations in lyrics, you have to make some rules as to how 'different' they must be.

The more popular the basic ballad story, the trickier it becomes.