Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. "Little Sir Hugh" from Steeleye Span's "Commoner's Crown" album is a song that starts off jolly enough;
"Four and twenty bonny bonny boys playing at the ball
Along came little Sir Hugh, he played with them all."
However, things take a turn for the worse when Hugh's lack of ball control means he has to retrieve the ball from the other side of a castle wall. Big mistake, the lady of the castle is not best pleased:
"She took him by the milk white hand, led him to the hall
Till they came to a stone chamber where no one could hear him call
She sat him on a golden chair, she gave him sugar sweet
She lay him on a dressing board and..."
What do you think comes next?
2. "Cruel Sister" from the Pentangle album of the same name is a tale of sibling rivalry gone mad. Two sisters who never really got on and both wanted the same man. The one sister pushes the other into the sea and watches her drown, families eh?
"She took her sister by the hand
And led her down to the North Sea strand.
And as they stood on the windy shore
The dark girl threw her sister o'er."
How do you think her murderous actions are uncovered?
3. Now for a ghost story; "The Suffolk Miracle" is a much loved song, the version I refer to can be found on Jim Moray's excellent debut album "Sweet England.
A squire disapproves of his daughter's suitor. He sends his daughter away to live with relatives. While she is gone her young man dies (of a broken heart according to the father, hmmm). Some months later the 'young man' turns up where the daughter is staying and bids her to come with him back to her father's house.
"She looked out of her window clear
And saw her true love on her father's mare,
Saying, "Your mother's orders you must obey
And your father's anger to satisfy.""
On the journey back home the daughter gives her young man a present.
To cut a long story short, the grave is discovered, the girl wants to know how the young man died and when the body is recovered it is bearing the present given by the girl!
What was discovered on the body?
4. "Sheath and Knife" is a song with some very disturbing variations; this version is from Eliza Carthy's "Heat, Light and Sound" album.
A young girl becomes pregnant and, unable to cope with the shame, asks her sister to kill her. Well what you going to do...?
How do the two sisters plan to stage the pregnant one's death?
5. Nic Jones's sad tale of "Miles Weatherhill" is a song about a real life event. In 1867 a man named Miles Weatherhill broke into a vicarage and in a fit of rage killed the vicar, the vicar's daughter and a servant.
"Four loaded pistols, a fit of frenzy,
Miles to the vicarage went forthwith,
And with a weapon wounded the master,
And he shot the maiden named Jane Smith."
What had made Miles so angry?
6. Picture a cosy scene; a young lover and his lass sitting under a willow tree, she falls gently asleep, ahhh. No not 'ahhh' but aaarrrghh!
He commits bloody murder upon her.
"I stabbed her with a dagger,
Which was a bloody knife,
I threw her in the river,
Which was a dreadful sight."
These lines are taken from Nick Cave's version of "Down by the Willow Garden", a song that has been covered many, many times.
How does the killer know the girl will fall asleep?
7. "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" also known as "The Prickly Bush" is a story of a girl about to be hung (we know not why) who hopes that the hangman is open to bribery.
She procrastinates as various people arrive one by one to watch her hang;
"O Hangman, stay thy hand,
And stay it for a while,
For I fancy I see my father
A coming across the yonder stile.
O, father, have you my gold?
And can you set me free?
Or are you come to see me hung?
All on the gallows tree?"
Who comes up with something to bribe the hangman?
8. The folk song "The Cruel Mother" has many variations all on the theme of infanticide, guilt and retribution. The version here is the one sung by June Tabor.
An unmarried lady gives birth to twins and promptly kills them and hides the bodies.
"She took a knife so keen and sharp,
She pierced it through each tender heart.
And she's dug a hole all beneath the tree
And she's buried them where none might see."
Some while later, the babies appear as ghosts and prophesise the lady's future.
What fate awaits her?
9. There are some very gory tales in Scottish folk songs. The tale of "Daughter Doris" has some particularly nasty passages, this version is told by Hamish Henderson on Martyn Bennett's "Grit" album.
This is a laugh-a-minute story of a king's daughter whose mother dies. She does not get on with her step-mother and the king throws his daughter out. She has a brief moment of happiness when she meets and marries a soldier. As soon as she finds she is with child, he leaves to go off to war. She is now homeless, so returns to her father's castle and throws herself at his mercy.
So how does he treat her?
10. There are several versions of the ballad called "Lankin", sometimes "Lamkin", but all have very graphic descriptions of murders. This version is from Steeleye Span's "Commoner's Crown" album and is called "Long Lankin".
A lord of the manor has swindled Lankin who extracts bloody revenge by first killing the lord's baby (I'll spare you that bit) and then killing his wife, (he is assisted in these murders by the family's nurse);
"Down the stairs the lady came, thinking no harm
Lankin he stood ready to catch her in his arms.
There was blood all in the kitchen
There was blood all in the hall
There was blood all in the parlour
Where my lady she did fall."
Nice!
What fate awaits Lankin?
Source: Author
mutchisman
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
ertrum before going online.
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