Ballads of Romance and Chivalry: Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - First Series

These are the songs that survived. Centuries of oral transmission, passed from singer to listener, village to village, until someone finally wrote them down. This collection gathers traditional English and Scottish ballads where love is often fatal and honor demands blood. You'll find knights who die for a lady's favor, maidens who pine away for cruel lovers, and cunning heroines who outwit death itself. Frank Sidgwick's meticulous early-20th-century compilation preserves the raw emotion and stark beauty of these ancient narratives. Here there are no tidy endings. Lovers betray. Heroes fall. The Fair Folk steal children away. The green earth remembers when songs carried magic and a good death was worth more than a long life. For readers who crave authenticity over polish, who want to hear voices across centuries speaking of passion, jealousy, loyalty, and loss that feel startlingly modern. These ballads were never meant for quiet reading alone. They demand to be spoken aloud, to be heard in dim halls after dark.