Synopsis

Clerk Saunders and may Margaret ("may" meaning maiden and being a title rather than a name) are walking in the garden. He persuades her to go to bed with him before their marriage, saying that he will let himself in and she can cover her eyes, so that she can swear

Quibble (plot device)

In literature, a quibble is a common plot device, used to fulfill the exact verbal conditions of an agreement in order to avoid the intended meaning. Its most common uses are in legal bargains and, in fantasy, magically enforced ones....

 that she did not let him in or see him. Her seven brothers catch them and argue over what to do, but the youngest kills him without a word, and Margaret finds him dead in the morning. They bury him.

His ghost

Ghost

In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...

 appears at her window and tells her she must release him from his promise. She demands a kiss, but he tells her it would kill her. She frees him.

Variants

The woman who attempts to conceal her lover, and the family members who find him, are common ballad motifs. Willie and Lady Maisry

Willie and Lady Maisry

-Synopsis:Willie kills the watch on Lady Maisry's father's hall to get to her chamber. After the night, her father kills him. Lady Maisry taxes him with it. He may tell her that Willie killed the guard, but she retorts that they were in armor but Willie was not....

has much in common with it.

Recordings

Frequently recorded by some of the best known names in the English folk tradition. Well-known recordings include:
- Malinky

Malinky

Malinky is a Scottish folk band specialising in Scots song.Formed in autumn 1998, the original members were Karine Polwart from Banknock, Stirlingshire , Steve Byrne from Arbroath , Mark Dunlop from Garryduff, Co...

 on their 2005 album, The Unseen Hours
- Eliza Carthy

Eliza Carthy

Eliza Carthy is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson.-Life and career:...

 on the 1996 album, "Heat Light and Sound"
- June Tabor

June Tabor

June Tabor is an English folk singer.- Early years :June Tabor was inspired to sing by hearing Anne Briggs' EP Hazards of Love in 1965. "I went and locked myself in the bathroom for a fortnight and drove my mother mad. I learned the songs on that EP note for note, twiddle for twiddle. That's how I...

 on on her second solo album, "Ashes and Diamonds" from 1972
- Martin Simpson

Martin Simpson

Martin Simpson is an English folk singer, guitarist and songwriter. His music reflects a wide variety of influences and styles, rooted in the British Isles, America and beyond.-Biography:...

 on "kind Letters" and various collections

Depictions

Clerk Saunders is the subject, and title, of paintings by Edward Burne-Jones

Edward Burne-Jones

Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who worked closely with William Morris on a wide range of decorative arts as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company...

 in the Tate Collection

Tate

-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...

 and Elizabeth Siddal

Elizabeth Siddal

Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal was an English artists' model, poet and artist who was painted and drawn extensively by artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, including Walter Deverell, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and most of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's early paintings of women.-Early...

, currently in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum

Fitzwilliam Museum

The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge, located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge, England. It receives around 300,000 visitors annually. Admission is free....

.