Synopsis

Fifteen English lords come to the king "To dance and win the victory." He gets the bonny lass to dance with them, offering her lands and either the fairest knight (of her choice), or the bravest, in his court. She wins. The fifteenth lord laid aside his sword but still had to admit defeat—in one variant, for exhaustion.

Commentary

The significiance of this dancing competition and the "victory" won is unclear. The point is that none of the knights can outdance her.

Francis James Child

Francis James Child

Francis James Child was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of folk songs known as the Child Ballads. Child was Boylston professor of rhetoric and oratory at Harvard University, where he produced influential editions of English poetry...

 classified it among the "historical" ballads.

Adaptions

Delia Sherman

Delia Sherman

Cordelia Caroline Sherman , known professionally as Delia Sherman, is a fantasy writer and editor. Her novel The Porcelain Dove won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award...

reworked this ballad in her short story, "The Fiddler of Bayou Teche".