"Sheath and Knife" is a folk ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

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Synopsis

A woman is pregnant with her brother's child. He takes her to the greenwood to have her child, but she dies (or he kills her). He buries her and laments her death.

Variants

"Leesome Brand

Leesome Brand

-Synopsis:Leesome Brand went to court when ten years old. An eleven-year-old girl fell in love with him, but nine months later, called on him to saddle horses, take her dowry, and flee with her. They headed to his mother's house, but she went into labour on the way...

", Child ballad 15, is closely related to this ballad, and some variants are hard to distinguish; the hero laments the death in the same language as "Sheath and Knife".

Other ballads on this theme include "The Bonny Hind

The Bonny Hind

-Synopsis:A squire persuades a maiden to lie with him. Afterward, she asks his name, and he reveals that he is a lord's son. She calls him a liar: she is that lord's daughter. The horror-struck son reveals that he was long at sea. She stabs herself to death, and he buries her...

", "The King's Dochter Lady Jean

The King's Dochter Lady Jean

-Synopsis:The heroine goes to the woods. A man meets her, tries to woo her, and rapes her. He asks her name, and they learn that they are brother and sister...

", and "Lizie Wan

Lizie Wan

-Synopsis:The heroine—Lizie, Rosie, Lucy—is pregnant with her brother's child. Her brother murders her. He tries to pass off the blood as some animal he had killed—his greyhound, his falcon, his horse—but in the end must admit that he murdered her...

".

Versions

• Ewan MacColl
  Ewan MacColl
  Ewan MacColl was an English folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, and record producer. He was married to theatre director Joan Littlewood, and later to American folksinger Peggy Seeger. He collaborated with Littlewood in the theatre and with Seeger in folk music...
  
   sang this ballad and it is included on the collection Black & White.
• Broadside Electric
  Broadside Electric
  Broadside Electric are an American electric folk band from Philadelphia. Formed in 1990, they are still active in 2011...
  
   included it on the 1996 album More Bad News ...
  More Bad News ...
  More Bad News ... is the title of the third album by Broadside Electric. It was released on June 18, 1996 in the United States. Currently out of print, it has recently become available once again via several popular online music retailers.-Track listing:...
  
  and again on the 2002 album "Live: Do Not Immerse
  Live: Do Not Immerse
  Live: Do Not Immerse is the title of the fifth album by Broadside Electric. It was released on May 14th, 2002 in the United States.-Track listing:#"Ampère's Law" – 3:19#"Mosé salió de Misrayim" – 5:13#"A Rat in Her Pocket" – 5:12...
  
  ".
• Sol Invictus (band)
  Sol Invictus (band)
  Sol Invictus is an English neofolk and neoclassical group fronted by Tony Wakeford. Wakeford has been the sole constant member of the group since its inception, although numerous musicians have contributed and collaborated with Wakeford under the Sol Invictus moniker over the years.-Overview:For...
  
   has a live version on the 1994 album "The Death of the West".
• Maddy Prior
  Maddy Prior
  Maddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...
  
   has a version on her 1998 album "Flesh & Blood".
• Helen Bonchek Schneyer
  Helen Bonchek Schneyer
  Helen Bonchek Schneyer was an American folk musician. She was raised Jewish in New York City. While a student at Columbia University, she was introduced to American folk music. She also sang Baptist spirituals.Over a sixty year career, Schneyer worked with such influential artists as Pete Seeger...
  
  performed an a capella version on her Folk-Legacy album Ballads, Broadsides and Hymns.
• Dead Raven Choir performed a harsh black metal version on their 2001 EP "Sheath & Knife". It can also be found in remastered form on their "Cask Strength Black Metal" compilation.