Recordings & Info 16. Sheath and Knife
[There are no extant US or Canadian traditional versions.]
CONTENTS
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index
3) Child Collection Index
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud Number 3960: Sheath and Knife (11 Listings)
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Alternative Titles
Broom Blooms Bonie
Broom Blooms Bonnie
Traditional Ballad Index: Sheath and Knife [Child 16]
DESCRIPTION: The princess (Jeannie) is pregnant by her brother. Rather than reveal the truth, the two leave for the greenwood, where he shoots her and buries her "with their bairn at her feet." He returns home, but even the joys of royalty cannot console him.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1796 (Scots Musical Museum)
KEYWORDS: murder incest pregnancy burial mourning royalty
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Child 16, "Sheath and Knife" (6 texts)
Bronson 16, "Sheath and Knife" (2 versions)
DT 16, SHEATHKF* SHTHKNF2 SHTHKNF3
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #64, "Sheath and Knife" (1 text)
Roud #3960
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Leesome Brand" [Child 15] (lyrics about the "sheathe and knife)
cf. "The Bonnie Hind" [Child 50] (plot, lyrics)
NOTES: On the scientific evidence that brothers and sisters raised apart are particularly likely to fall in love, and some further speculation as to why, see the notes to "Babylon, or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie [Child 14]."
Child in his notes to "Robin Hood's Death" [Child 120] suggests that the penultimate scene here once followed the same course as in that ballad -- that is, presumably, instead of the girl choosing a spot and asking her brother to shoot and bury her there, that she once shot the arrow herself to choose her grave site. This is perhaps possible -- in each case, she chooses where she is buried -- but I doubt it. The effect is the same, but the symbolism is different. In "Robin Hood's Death," the bow itself is called upon to choose the burial place -- a strong symbol of Robin's career with the bow. In "Sheathe and Knife," the girl chooses the exact spot -- and then the boy shoots a silver arrow as the last gift, or tribute, he can give her. The emphasis is very different. - RBW
Child Collection Index
Alasdair Roberts Sheath and Knife You Need Not Braid Your Hair for Me, I Have Not Come A-Wooing 2005 6:33 Yes
Boiled in Lead Sheath & Knife Alloy Complete 1998 No
Broadside Electric Sheath and Knife More Bad News.. 1997 9:15 Yes
Broadside Electric Sheath and Knife Live, Do Not Immerse! 2002 6:58 Yes
Christina Harrison Sheath and Knife Lassie Wi' the Lint-White Locks 2000 3:59 Yes
Christine Kydd Sheath & Knife Ballads 1997 7:38 Yes
Christine Kydd Sheath and Knife Dark Pearls 1999 6:53 Yes
Corrina Hewat Sheath & Knife My Favourite Place 2003 3:45 Yes
Corrina Hewat Sheath & Knife Let Scotland Flourish - The Bright Young Stars of Scottish Traditional Music 2003 3:45 Yes
David Parry Sheath and Knife 'E Liked It All - David Parry in Concert with the Friends of Fiddler's Green 1995 5:44 Yes
Downes & Beer Sheath and Knife Live at Nettlebed 2008 7:03 Yes
Eliza Carthy Sheath and Knife Heat, Light and Sound 1996 5:41 Yes
Ewan MacColl Sheath and Knife Antiquities 1998 6:20 Yes
Ewan MacColl Sheath and Knife Black and White - The Definitive Collection 1996 6:20 Yes
Ewan MacColl Sheath and Knife Blood and Roses - Vol. 5 1986 6:19 Yes
Ewan MacColl Sheath and Knife Solo Flight 1972 6:28 Yes
Gordeanna McCulloch Sheath & Knife Sheath & Knife - Traditional Songs & Ballads from Scotland 2000 7:05 Yes
Helen Bonchek Schneyer The Sheath and Knife Ballads, Broadsides & Hymns 1974 8:50 Yes
Jamie McMenemy Wampy's/The Broom Blooms Bonnie The Road to Kerrigouarc'h 1981 2:43 Yes
Janet Russell Sheath and Knife Bright Shining Morning? 1993 5:32 Yes
Jean Redpath Sheath and Knife There Were Minstrels 1977 7:35 Yes
Jean Redpath Sheath and Knife Now and Then 1999 8:06 Yes
Joe Rae Sheath and Knife The Broom Blooms Bonny - Ballads, Songs and Stories from Ayrshire 2001 8:38 Yes
M.J. Harris & Martyn Bates Sheath and Knife Murder Ballads (The Complete Collection) 1998 12:06 Yes
Maddy Prior Sheath & Knife Collections - a Very Best of 1995 to 2005 2005 5:43 Yes
Maddy Prior Sheath and Knife A Stroll Through the Park 1999 5:43 Yes
Maddy Prior Sheath and Knife Flesh and Blood 1997 5:42 Yes
Maddy Prior Sheath and Knife The Quest 2008 5:50 Yes
Mary Humphreys & Anahata Sheath and Knife Sharp Practice - Rarities and Renovations from the English Tradition 2003 6:12 Yes
Neutral Sheath and Knife .. Of Shadow and Its Dream 2005 8:30 Yes
Neutral Sheath and Knife Sol Lucet Omnibus - A Tribute to Sol Invictus 2002 No
Orchis Sheath and Knife The Dancing Sun 1994 No
Paul Downes Sheath and Knife Overdue 1996 No
Sangsters Sheath and Knife Begin 1993 7:28 Yes
Sheena Wellington Sheath and Knife Kerelaw 1986 6:45 Yes
Sol Invictus Sheath & Knife In Europa 1998 5:14 Yes
Sol Invictus Sheath and Knife The Death of the West 1994 5:37 Yes
Sol Invictus Sheath and Knife Trieste 2000 5:00 Yes
Tony Rose Sheath and Knife Under the Greenwood Tree 1971 6:33 Yes
Tony Rose Sheath and Knife Bare Bones 1999 5:35 Yes
Tony Rose Sheath and Knife Exe 2008 No