_Source._--From Scott's _Minstrelsy_, with touches from the other
variants given by Prof. Child in his _Eng. and Scotch Ballads_, i.,
335-58.
_Parallels._--Prof. Child gives no less than nine versions in his
masterly edition, _l.c._, besides another fragment "Burd Ellen and Young
Tamlane," i., 258. He parallels the marriage of Peleus and Thetis in
Apollodorus III., xiii., 5, 6, which still persists in modern Greece as
a Cretan ballad.
_Remarks._--Prof. Child remarks that dipping into water or milk is
necessary before transformation can take place, and gives examples,
_l.c._, 338, to which may be added that of Catskin (see Notes _infra_).
He gives as the reason why the Elf-queen would have "ta'en out Tamlane's
two grey eyne," so that henceforth he should not be able to see the
fairies. Was it not rather that he should not henceforth see Burd
Janet?--a subtle touch of jealousy. On dwelling in fairyland Mr.
Hartland has a monograph in his _Science of Fairy Tales_, pp. 161-254.