"Kemp Owyne" or "Kempion" ( Roud 3912,

Child A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

34) is a traditional English-language folk ballad.

Synopsis

The heroine is turned into a

worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateria, bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limb (anatomy), limbs, and usually no eyes. Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine ...

(dragon), usually by her

stepmother A stepmother, stepmum or stepmom is a female non-biological parent married to one's preexisting parent. Children from her spouse's previous unions are known as her stepchildren. A stepmother-in-law is a stepmother of one's spouse. Culture Ste ...

, who curses her to remain so until the king's son comes to kiss her three times. When he arrives, she offers him a belt, a ring, and a sword to kiss her, promising the things would magically protect him; the third time, she turns back into a woman. In some variants, he asks who enchanted her, a

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are ...

; she says it was her stepmother and curses her into a monstrous creature, permanently.

Variants

The hero of the story appears to be

Ywain In Arthurian legend, Ywain , also known as Yvain and Owain among other spellings (''Ewaine'', ''Ivain'', ''Ivan'', ''Iwain'', ''Iwein'', ''Uwain'', ''Uwaine'', ''Ywan'', etc.), is a Knight of the Round Table. Tradition often portrays him as t ...

, from Arthurian legend. It is not clear how he came to be attached to this story, although many other Arthurian knights appear in other ballads with as little connection to their roles in the Arthurian legend, for instance Sir Lionel, who appears in a ballad of the same name. Joseph Jacobs has suggested that " The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh" (which he collected for his ''English Fairy Tales'' with touches from the ballad of "Kempion") is a localised version of the ballad of "Kemp Owyne", Joseph Jacobs, ''English Fairy Tales''
"The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh"
itself possibly a version of the Icelandic saga of Áslól and Hjálmtèr. In the variant collected by

Francis James Child Francis James Child (February 1, 1825 – September 11, 1896) was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of English and Scottish ballads now known as the Child Ballads. Child was Boylston professor ...

, the three magical items all had the same property; he believed that originally, each one had a unique property, but these were lost. "Dove Isabeau" (1989), written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Dennis Nolan, shifts the title character to the transformed heroine but retains the narrative of the ballad, with the addition of a pet cat inhabited by the spirit of Isabeau's dead mother, who assists the hero in his rescue. Brian Peters included a recording titled "Kemp Owyne" on his album ''Sharper Than the Thorn''. Frankie Armstrong included a recording titled "Kemp Owen" on her album ''The Garden of Love''. Fay Hield includes a recording titled "Kemp Owen" on her album ''Looking Glass''. Bryony Griffith sings "Kemp Owen" on her 2014 debut solo album ''Nightshade''. This ballad was one of 25 traditional works included in ''Ballads Weird and Wonderful'' (1912) and illustrated by Vernon Hill.

Scandinavian ballads

Child notes similarities with several

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n ballads: " Jomfruen i ormeham" ( DgF 59, TSB A 28 – maid transformed into snake); " Jomfruen i linden" (DgF 66, SMB 12, NMB 15, TSB A 30 – maid transformed into lime tree); " Trolden og bondens hustru" (DgF 52, TSB A 14 – knight transformed into troll); and " Lindormen" (DgF 65, SMB 11, NMB 14, TSB A 29 – prince transformed into serpent (a lindworm)).

Translations

*(Modern English translation)

References

External links