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. In some variants, he kills her; in most, she goes home, and is tasked by her family for why she ails, and she and her brother both die when they meet there.

Variants

Other ballads on this theme include "Sheath and Knife

Sheath and Knife

"Sheath and Knife" is a folk ballad.-Synopsis:A woman is pregnant with her brother's child. He takes her to the greenwood to have her child, but she dies...

", "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...

", 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...

".

The opening section parallels that of "Hind Etin

Hind Etin

"Hind Etin" is a folk ballad existing in several variants.-Synopsis:Lady Margaret goes to the woods, and her breaking a branch is questioned by Hind Etin, who takes her with him into the forest. She bears him seven sons, but laments that they are never christened, nor she herself churched...

" and "Tam Lin

Tam Lin

Tam Lin is the hero of a legendary ballad originating from the Scottish Borders. The story revolves around the rescue of Tam Lin by his true love from the Queen of the Fairies...

".