There are French and Romaic variants of this ballad. “Lochroyal,” where
the ballad is localized, is in Wigtownshire, but the localization varies.
The “tokens” are as old as the Return of Odysseus, in the _Odyssey_: his
token is the singular construction of his bridal bed, attached by him to
a living tree-trunk. A similar legend occurs in Chinese. See Gerland’s
_Alt-Giechische Märchen_.