![The Cruel Mother [ Child Ballad No. 20 ] @DanielKellyFolkMusic](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/W4t2C2Tr84M/maxresdefault.jpg)
Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The beautiful painting is by Bertha Wegmann:
https://bruun-rasmussen.dk/m/news/117_berthawegmann
The ballad is on a terrible topic. I have used part of the K and L variants in Child:
archive.org/details/englishandscotti01chiluoft/page/n237/mode/2up
This song inspired an album:
ozfolklounge.bandcamp.com/album/cruel-mothers
#ChildBallads
Purchase my music:
ozfolklounge.bandcamp.com
Website (Lyrics and Chords):
folklounge.org/lyrics-and-chords
The beautiful painting is by Bertha Wegmann:
https://bruun-rasmussen.dk/m/news/117_berthawegmann
The ballad is on a terrible topic. I have used part of the K and L variants in Child:
archive.org/details/englishandscotti01chiluoft/page/n237/mode/2up
This song inspired an album:
ozfolklounge.bandcamp.com/album/cruel-mothers
#ChildBallads
Purchase my music:
ozfolklounge.bandcamp.com
Website (Lyrics and Chords):
folklounge.org/lyrics-and-chords
![The Cruel Mother [ Child Ballad No. 20 ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/W4t2C2Tr84M/mqdefault.jpg "The Cruel Mother [ Child Ballad No. 20 ]
The beautiful painting is by Bertha Wegmann:
https://bruun-rasmussen.dk/m/news/117_berthawegmann
The ballad is on a terrible topic. I have used part of the K and L variants in Child:
https://archive.org/details/englishandscotti01chiluoft/page/n237/mode/2up
This song inspired an album:
https://ozfolklounge.bandcamp.com/album/cruel-mothers
#ChildBallads
Purchase my music:
https://ozfolklounge.bandcamp.com/
Website (Lyrics and Chords):
https://www.folklounge.org/lyrics-and-chords/")
![Earl Brand [ Child Ballad No. 7 ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WTCMQimgR_s/mqdefault.jpg "Earl Brand [ Child Ballad No. 7 ]
I know some purists get upset when I make up new tunes for these ballads, so I have transcribed the tune from John Stokoe and John Collingwood Bruces 1965 Northumbrian Minstrelsy under the title The Brave Earl Brand and the King of Englands Daughter and done my best to at least match some of it.
Northumbrian Mistrelsy:
https://archive.org/details/northumbrianmins0000jcol
This appears in the Francis Child collection with six versions, and what I sing is closest to the A variant:
https://archive.org/details/englishscottishp01chil_0
This appears in William Motherwell, 1827, as The Douglas Tragedy, but starts once the lady is looking over her shoulder:
https://archive.org/details/bib_fict_706109
The thumbnail is from a painting by Agnes Slott-Møller which is titled, Ribold and Guldborg, which is the Danish story/ballad that many scholars suggest as the original source for this collection of ballads.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Slott-M%C3%B8ller
Purchase my music:
https://ozfolklounge.bandcamp.com/
Website (Lyrics and Chords):
https://www.folklounge.org/lyrics-and-chords/")
![Leesome Brand [ Child Ballad No. 15 ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Xm3fuLk6EQo/mqdefault.jpg "Leesome Brand [ Child Ballad No. 15 ]
Francis Child sources this version from Peter Buchans 1875 collection:
https://archive.org/details/ancientballadsa00buchgoog/
Disclaimer: The age of the young girl in this story makes it repulsive to modern sensitivities, but at the time this was written it was likely normal:
https://brewminate.com/a-history-of-age-of-consent-laws/
Purchase my music:
https://ozfolklounge.bandcamp.com/
Website (Lyrics and Chords):
https://www.folklounge.org/lyrics-and-chords/")
