Recordings & Info 34. Kemp Owyne
[There are no known traditional US or Canadian versions]
CONTENTS
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index
3) Child Collection
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud number 3912 Kemp Owyne (15 Listings)
Alternative Titles
Kempion
Traditional Ballad Index: Kemp Owyne [Child 34]
DESCRIPTION: When her mother dies, Isabel's father marries a vile woman who abuses and enchants her till Kemp Owyne shall rescue her. Owyne comes and sees a hideous beast. Despite her appearance, despite threats, he kisses her three times and restores her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1783/1799 (GordonBrown/Rieuwerts)
KEYWORDS: shape-changing magic separation love rescue stepmother
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Child 34, "Kemp Owyne" (3 texts)
Bronson 34, "Kemp Owyne" (1 version)
GordonBrown/Rieuwerts, pp. 168-173, "Kempion" (2 parallel texts plus a photo of the badly-transcribed tune; also a reconstructed tune on p. 278)
Leach, pp. 126-128, "Kemp Owyne" (1 text)
OBB 13, "Kemp Owyne" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 21, "Kemp Owyne" (1 text)
PBB 26, "Kemp Owyne" (1 text)
Gummere, pp. 280-282+359, "Kemp Owyne" (1 text)
DBuchan 26, "Kemp Owyne" (1 text)
TBB 33, "Kemp Owyne" (1 text)
DT 34, KEMPOWYN KEMPOWN2*
Roud #3912
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Laidley Worm of Spindleston Heughs"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Kempion
NOTES: "Kemp Owyne" means "Owen the Champion"; he appears in some of the medieval grail romances. Child claims the plot of this is from an Icelandic saga, but for once his citations are sufficiently vague that I am not certain what he is referring to. The most famous Owen is surely the hero of the Welsh romance of Owain ("The Lady/Countess of the Fountain"), found in (although not properly part of) the Mabinogion; that tale is believed to be from the thirteenth century (Lacy, p. 412); he would appear as "Yvain" in Chretien's romance of the same name.
The story also eventually produced an English romance version, "Ywain and Gawain." This is evidently a modified translation of Chretien's version of the story, reducing the total length to about 60% of Chretien's original (Mills, p. xi).
It is interesting to see him here restoring a woman, since in "Owain" the hero himself develops amnesia and has to be restored by magic. Also, the Owyne of "Owain" has pity on a dangerous beast -- in this case, a lion, and not a transformed animal, but there is a certain similarity.
Given the relative obscurity of the English version (only one manuscript; Mills, p. xii), I wonder if the author of this ballad didn't hear the story of Owein in some form, and remember the name and a few details but not the general plot, and filled it out from the Scandinavian version Child points out.
For a good deal more on magical transformation and restoration by love, sex, or kissing, see the notes to "The Marriage of Sir Gawain" [Child 31].
Child prints "The Laidley Worm of Spindleston Heughs" as an appendix to this ballad, and later added a second version in his addenda. - RBW
Bibliography
Lacy: Norris J. Lacy, Editor, The Arthurian Encyclopedia, 1986 (I use the 1987 Peter Bedrick paperback edition)
Mills: Maldwyn Mills, Ywain and Gawain, Sir Percyvell of Gales, The Anturs of Arther, J. M. Dent/Everyman, 1992
Pickering: David Pickering, The Cassell Dictionary of Folklore, Cassell, 1999
Child Ballad 034: Kemp Owyne
Child-- Artist --Title --Album --Year --Length --Have Rec
034 Brian Peters Kemp Owyne Sharper Than the Thorn 1996 5:58 Yes
034 Ewan MacColl The Laidley Worm Scotland 1951, 1953, and 1958 (Lomax T3257) 1951 :28 Yes
034 Fay Hield Kemp Owen Looking Glass 2010 7:25 Yes
034 Frankie Armstrong Kemp Owen The Garden of Love 1999 6:29 Yes
034 Graham & Sam Pirt The Laidley Worm O’ Spindleston Heugh Dance Ti' Thee Daddy 2008 No
034 Margaret MacArthur Kemp Owyne Ballads Thrice Twisted 1999 5:51 Yes
034 Owen Brannigan The Laidley Worm O' Spindleston Heugh Scottish & Newcastle Scottish & Newcastle 1998 No