what an amazing song & the history is interesting, too!

child ballad 301 on youtube by Australian Raymond Crook who has recorded all the Child ballads

Raymondfolk child ballads 301. The Queen of Scotland

The Queen of Scotland tries to lure Troy Muir to her bed. When she fails, to punish him, she directs him to lift a stone in her garden, and a hungry snake emerges. A woman comes by and cuts off her breast to appease the serpent, and the wound heals within an hour. Troy marries her the same day. Nine months later, she bears a son, and her breast is miraculously restored in time to suckle the child.

Child regarded this as an "insipid" ballad derived from "some insipid tale." It certainly lacks the drama and emotional intensity of the best ballads, being clearly a retelling of a literary work - but that work is the great celtic tale of the Arthurian Romance. There are many related stories which tell of how the chaste and virtuous maiden, Guinier, bravely sacrificed her breast to save the life of her love, one being Le Livre du Caradoc which is contained in the Old French Perceval (Conte de Graal). In that story the only way for a serpent to be removed from Caradoc's arm was for him to stand in a vat of vinegar, while the king's daughter stood in a vat of milk with her breasts exposed. The serpent, of course, let go of the king and sank its fangs into her breast. The king's friend, Cador, managed to kill the serpent with his sword, but sliced off the girl's nipple in the process, which saved her life. It was later replaced by a magical breast of gold. Medieval variations on the same theme, apart from the ballad collected by Child, include The Story of Azenor, in which the King of Brest's daughter saves her father from a monstrous serpent stuck to his arm by washing her breast with ewe's milk and olive oil and offering herself to the serpent, which released its fangs from her father's arm and attached itself to her breast, which she immediately cut off, flinging it, along with the serpent, into a fire. Her filial piety and sacrifice was rewarded by having her breast restored by God.