Child collected only one version of this ballad in which a blacksmith attempts to deprive a maiden of her virginity and she tries to escape by transforming herself into various animals and objects. The blacksmith has magic powers to match hers and triumphs in the end. Child's variant was taken from Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland (1828).The only traditional English version, and the only one that came with a tune, was collected by Cecil Sharp from the singing of Mr Sparks, a blacksmith, of Minehead, Somerset on August 8, 1904. There are a number of other versions which are basically modernisations. The best known of these is A. L. Lloyd's adaptation of Child's "Buchan" version, put to a tune which he either wrote himself or borrowed from another ballad. There is also a version by Steeleye Span.

Some folksingers stopped singing this song because of accusations by radical feminists that it is a celebration of rape and therefore politically incorrect. There is an excellent article disputing this interpretation here: http://www.reenchantmentofsex.com/rs/ballad.htm

You can watch a playlist of my renditions of the Child ballads here:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=B2D0D5657EA394E4

For lyrics and chords of my songs, please go to my website: http://www.raymondcrooke.com