SOURCE: "King Henry" (The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 1882-1898) by Francis James Child

DESCRIPTION: "‘An in it came a griesly ghost/Steed stappin i the fleer/Her head hat the reef-tree o the house/Her middle ye mot wel span/He’s thrown to her his gay mantle/Says, ‘Lady, hap your lingcan.'/Her teeth was a’ like teather stakes/Her nose like club or mell/An I ken naething she ’peard to be/But the fiend that wons in hell." ("King Henry" by Francis James Child)

NOTES: King Henry goes hunting. At his hunting lodge a female fiend appears and demands meat. She eats his horses, his dogs and his hawks, then drinks all the liquor. After this she beds the king. In the morning the hideous fiend has become the most beautiful lady, his true love.

HISTORY: Francis James Child did not write this ballad, only recorded it in his book, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. As with all ballads, these songs were sung and their stories told for centuries before they were written down. This song inspired Jane Yolen and Charles Vess to do a comic book version for Book of Ballads (2004) and King Henry is Henry VIII. Is this where Anne Boleyn came from?Steeleye Span recorded this song. Watch it.