The Gay Goshawk ( Roud 61,

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 ...

96) is a traditional English-language folk ballad.

Synopsis

A Scottish squire sends a letter to his love by a goshawk, who tells her that he has sent many letters and will die for love. She goes to ask her father a boon, and he says, anything but leave to marry the squire. She asks that, if she dies, she will be buried in Scotland. He agrees, and she takes a sleeping potion. When her body is carried to Scotland, the squire comes to lament her, opening the coffin or the winding sheet. She wakes—sometimes after he kisses her—tells him she has fasted nine days for him, and tells her brothers to go home without her.

Variants

Heroines who feign death, to win their lovers or for other reasons of escape, are a common motif in ballads. The hero who feigns death to draw a timid maiden is less common, but still often appears as in "

Willie's Lyke-Wake "Willie's Lyke-Wake" ( Roud 30, 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 u ...

", Child ballad 25. The bird as a messenger is common in ballads. Later forms of this ballad use not a goshawk but a parrot, a bird that can talk.Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 2, p 356-7, Dover Publications, New York 1965

References

Child Ballads Year of song unknown Songs with unknown songwriters {{Folk-song-stub