Fause Foodrage (

Child ballad The Child Ballads are List of the Child Ballads, 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies ...

89,

Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadsid ...

57) is a Scottish

murder ballad Murder ballads are a subgenre of the traditional ballad form dealing with a crime or a gruesome death. Their lyrics form a narrative describing the events of a murder, often including the lead-up and/or aftermath. The term refers to the conten ...

of the 17th or 18th century. It was first printed by

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

in ''

Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border ''Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border'' is an anthology of Border ballads, together with some from north-east Scotland and a few modern literary ballads, edited by Walter Scott. It was first published by Archibald Constable in Edinburgh in 1 ...

'' (1802). Scott cited

Elizabeth, Lady Wardlaw Elizabeth, Lady Wardlaw (1677–1727) was a Scottish poet and the reputed author of the ballad ''Hardyknute''. Biography Elizabeth was born on 15 April 1677, the second daughter of Sir Charles Halket, baronet, of Pitfirran, Fife, and his wife J ...

as the ballad's probable author.

Synopsis

Three kings, King Easter (or King of Eastmure), King Wester (or King of Westmure) and King Honor (or ''King o Luve''), are courting a woman; she marries King Honor for love, but there is a rebellion of nobles, and the lot falls on "False Foodrage" (''Fause Foodrage'', ''Fa'se Footrage'') to kill the king, or, in other variants, the Eastmure king kills King Honor because his suit for King Honor's queen was rejected. The queen pleads for her life until her child is born. Fause Foodrage tells her that if the baby is a boy, he will die. He sets guards on her, but she gets them drunk and leaves out a window. She has a son in a pigsty. Wise William is sent to seek her; he sends his wife, and when she finds her, she persuades her to change her son for her daughter, saying that they will both raise the other's child fittingly. When the boy is grown, Wise William takes him by the royal castle and tells him the truth. The son kills Fause Foodrage, rewards Wise William, and marries the daughter that his mother raised.

commented that King Easter and King Wester represent "petty princes of Northumberland and Westmoreland" but later retracted this opinion.

Variants

Child ballad 90 '' Jellon Grame'' has affinities to this ballad. This ballad is closely related with a Scandinavian one, "Young William" ( TSB E 96), in which a rival in love kills the successful wooer, the woman bears a child and has the rival told it was a girl, and the son, grown, kills the rival. Another Scandinavian ballad (TSB D 352) opens with the bride being carried off, and her family coming to burn down the church that the bridegroom and his people are in; she hides her son from her family and in time he avenges his father.Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 2, p 298, Dover Publications, New York 1965

Modern interpretations

The tune recorded with ''Fause Foodrage'' was used for the ballad

Willie o Winsbury Willie O Winsbury (Child Ballads, Child 100, Roud Folk Song Index, Roud 64) is a traditional English-language folk ballad. The song, of which there are many variants, is a traditional Scottish ballad that dates from at least 1775, and is known unde ...

by mistake by Andy Irvine of

Sweeney's Men Sweeney's Men was an Irish traditional band. They emerged from the mid-1960s Irish roots revival, along with groups such as The Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers. The founding line-up in May 1966 was Johnny Moynihan, Andy Irvine and "Galway ...

(1968) and has since frequently been used for that song.Sleeve notes from ''Sweeney's Men'' LP, Transatlantic Records Ltd, TRA SAM 37, 1968. An arrangement of this tune is used in

The Wicker Man ''The Wicker Man'' is a 1973 British folk horror film directed by Robin Hardy (film director), Robin Hardy and starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt and Christopher Lee. The screenplay is by Anthony Shaffer (writer ...

(1973) for the "procession" scene. In contrast to ''Willie o Winsbury'', the ballad ''Fause Foodrage'' has only rarely been recorded by modern folk musicians. One recording is that by Hermes Nye (1957).

References

{{Francis James Child Child Ballads Murder ballads