+The Text+ is taken from Buchan's _Ballads of the North of Scotland_,
and, like nearly all Buchan's versions, exhibits traces of vulgar
remoulding. This ballad in particular has lost much of the original
features. Kinloch called his version _Hynde Etin_, Allingham his
compilation _Etin the Forester_.
+The Story+ is given in a far finer style in romantic Scandinavian
ballads. Prior translated two of them, _The Maid and the Dwarf-King_,
and _Agnes and the Merman_, both Danish. The Norse ballads on this
subject, which may still be heard sung, are exceptionally beautiful.
Child says, 'They should make an Englishman's heart wring for his loss.'
In the present version we may with some confidence attribute to Buchan
the stanzas from 48 to the end, as well as 15 and 16. The preference is
given to Buchan's text merely because it retains features lost in
Kinloch's version.