[quote=""Volgadon""]I hate modern mindsets. A good example of just why Alais wouldn't have gone to the woods alone is the ballad Tam Lyn, though it dates to a slightly later period. The heroine goes off into the woods alone, looking for trouble and finds it in the form of Tam Lyn who forcifully beds her. I think the mindset was that if a girl goes to places like that alone she is asking for it[/quote]
Which reminds me of this - things learned from British folk ballads, together with a quiz which I have cut and pasted below.
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/ar ... 06448.html
Quiz: Pop quiz!
You are a beautiful young lady named Janet. On the first of May you meet a man in a patch of broom down by the greenwoodside. He invites you to his home on the far side of the sea, and earnestly entreats you to keep his invitation secret from your parents. The ship is leaving right away, this very night!
What should you do?
A) Woo hoo, sounds like fun! Youll go, have a great time, and return home happy, healthy, and with some great gossip for your chums.
B) You blow loudly on a police whistle and run home as if jet-propelled. You tell mom and dad what just went down, put on a Stetson, and load your forty-four caliber revolver with silver bullets.
C) You decide that it would save everyone concerned a great deal of trouble if you skipped ahead a bit and hanged yourself right now. Your Doleful Ghost informs mom of the situation.
D) Rather than go with him you disguise yourself as a man and join the Army. Next time youre marching through the Lowlands Low you seduce a beautiful young lady. She is so amazed to discover that she isnt pregnant that she hangs herself. Her Doleful Ghost gets confused and drives the young man you met down by the greenwoodside mad. He delivers a long speech that begins Come all ye wild and roving lads a warning take by me
.