Bloody Gardener, The

DESCRIPTION: A lord loves a shepherd's daughter. His mother pays the gardner to kill and bury the shepherdess. The mother confesses and reveals the body. The lord kills himself. The lovers are buried together and the gardener is hanged.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1764 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 1(100)); ; c.1705 (broadside, NLScotland S.302.b.2(063))
KEYWORDS: courting love virginity burial suicide homicide bird father mother gardening money punishment execution
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Peacock, pp. 668-670, "The Bloody Garden" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-FolkSongsFromNewfoundland 25, "The Bloody Gardener" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1700
RECORDINGS:
Everett Bennett, "The Bloody Garden" (on PeacockCDROM) [one verse only]
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 1(100), "The Bloody Gardener's Cruelty" or "The Shepherd's Daughter Betrayed," W. and C. Dicey (London), 1736-1763; also Harding B 1(101),"The Bloody Gardiner's Cruelty" or "The Shepherd's Daughter Betrayed"; Douce Ballads 3(2b), Harding B 1(103), "The Bloody Gardener's Cruelty" or "The Shepherd's Daughter Betray'd"; Harding B 1(102), Harding B 1(94), Firth c.18(7), "The Bloody Gardiner's Cruelty" or "The Shepherd's Daughter Betrayed"; 2806 c.17(39)[parts faded to illegibility], Harding B 5(113), Harding B 11(330), "[The] Bloody Gardener"; Harding B 1(104), "The Bloody Gardener's Cruelty"
NLScotland, S.302.b.2(063), "The Bloody Gardener's Cruelty; Or, The Shepherd's Daughter Betray'd," unknown, c. 1705 [poorly printed and nearly illegible]
File: Pea668

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