Tom Potts (

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 ...

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 ...

109) is a traditional English-language folk ballad.

Synopsis

The heroine rejects a rich suitor, Lord Fenix/Phenix, for her poor true love, Tom Potts. Her angry father makes arrangements for the wedding regardless. She sends word to Tom. He sends back word that he will be there and goes to his lord, asking for assistance. The lord is generous with him. Tom interrupts the wedding procession to challenge the groom. He wins. Her father agrees to their marriage and makes Tom his heir.

Motifs

The unequal match is a very common motif in ballads and

romance Romance may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings ** Romantic orientation, the classification of the sex or gender with which a pers ...

s, such as '' Richie Story'' and King Cophetua.Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 2, p 441, Dover Publications, New York 1965

References

Child Ballads Houghton Mifflin books Year of song unknown Songs with unknown songwriters {{folk-song-stub