"Allison Gross" ( Eng. Allison Gross ; Child 35 , Roud 3212 [1] ) is a folk ballad of Scottish descent. Known in a single version, recorded from the words of Mrs. Brown by her nephew Robert E. Scott in 1783 [2] and published in 1806 by [3] .
| Allison gross | |
|---|---|
| Alison Gros | |
| folk song | |
| Tongue | English |
| First post author | Robert E. Scott |
| Date of first entry | OK. 1783 |
| Recorded | by hand |
| Publication | Jamieson, Robert. Alison Gross // Popular Ballads and Songs. - Edinburgh, 1806. - Vol. II. |
With the exception of the last two stanzas, Ignatius Mikhailovich Ivanovsky translated the ballad into Russian [3] .
Story
The ballad is a young man’s first-person account. Alison Gros, “the ugliest witch in the northern edge”, brings him to his tower, puts him on his knees, combes his hair and strokes his head. She offers him her love and presents a scarlet mantle, then a silk shirt and a golden bowl. The young man refuses time after time. Then the hag blows into a green horn, spins in place and with the help of a silver wand and spell turns the guy into a worm (dragon) tied to a tree. On a Saturday night, a sister, Maisry, comes to him, lays him on her knees and combes her comb. However, the young man does not regret his choice. Once, on Halloween, a procession of elves ( seely court ) passes by, and the Fairy Queen conjures the unfortunate, stroking him three times [3] .
A similar theme is the ballad The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea (Child 36). One of the researchers believes that the name “Alison” in Central English poetry was mainly carried by young and attractive women, citing the example of two characters in the Canterbury Tales and the well-known love poem Alison ; according to another source, it is one of the most common witch names [4] . The motive of the first part of the ballad, when a supernatural creature offers a person different gifts in exchange for his love, has circulation in Romanesque and North German folklore [3] .
The ballad is one of 25 traditional stories included in the 1912 Ballads Weird and Wonderful book, illustrated by sculptor .
Notes
- ↑ Vaughan Williams Memorial Library
- ↑ Kekäläinen, Kirsti. Aspects of Style and Language in Child's Collection of English and Scottish Popular Ballads : [ eng. ] . - 1983. (English)
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 English and Scottish Folk Ballad: Compilation / Comp. L. M. Arinstein. - M: Rainbow, 1988 .-- 512 p. - ISBN 5-05-001852-8 .
- ↑ Allison Gross [Child 35] . The Traditional Ballad Index. An annotated source to folk song from the English-speaking world . Robert B. Waltz. Date of treatment January 4, 2017.