King's Dochter Lady Jean, The [Child 52]

DESCRIPTION: The king's daughter goes to the wood, where a man meets her and rapes her. After he is through, they exchange names. He is her brother came back from the sea! She stabs herself. She is carried home and dies. When he sees her body, he dies in her arms
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1826 (Lyle-Andrew-CrawfurdsCollectionVolume1)
KEYWORDS: royalty incest rape suicide
FOUND IN: Britain(England,Scotland(Aber,Bord)) US(MA)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Child 52, "The King's Dochter Lady Jean" (4 texts)
Bronson 52, "The King's Dochter Lady Jean" (5 versions plus 2 in addenda)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads 52, "The King's Dochter Lady Jean" (3 versions: #1, #1.1, #3)
Greig/Duncan7 1395, "Fair Rosie Ann" (7 texts, 3 tunes) {A=Bronson's #3, B=#4, C=#5}
Lyle-Andrew-CrawfurdsCollectionVolume1 36, "Lady Jean" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sedley/Carthy-WhoKilledCockRobin, pp. 152-154, "The King's Dochter Lady Jean" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 52, KINGDAUJ KNGDAU2
Roud #39
RECORDINGS:
Sara Cleveland, "Queen Jane" (on SCleveland01) {Bronson's #1.1 in addenda}
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf "The Bonnie Hind" [Child 50] (plot)
cf. "Sheath and Knife" [Child 16] (plot, lyrics)
cf. "Babylon, or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie" [Child 14] (plot)
cf. "Lizie Wan" [Child 51] (theme)
NOTES [79 words]: On the scientific evidence that brothers and sisters raised apart are particularly likely to fall in love, and some further speculation as to why, see the notes to "Babylon, or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie [Child 14]."
For the links Emily Lyle sees between this ballad and "Tam Lin" [Child 39], see Emily Lyle, Fairies and Folk: Approaches to the Scottish Ballad Tradition, Wissenschaflicher Verlag Trier, 2007, pp. 123-126, or the brief summary in the notes on "Tam Lin." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: C052

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