+The Text+ is that communicated to the _Folklore Record_ (vol. i. p. 60)
by Miss Charlotte Latham, as it was written down from recitation by a
girl in Sussex (1868).
+The Story+ is so simple, and so reminiscent of other ballads, that we
must suppose this version to be but a fragment of some forgotten ballad.
Its chief interest lies in the setting forth of a common popular belief,
namely, that excessive grief for the dead 'will not let them sleep.' Cp.
Tibullus, Lib. 1. Eleg. 1, lines 67, 68:--
'Tu Manes ne laede meos: sed parce solutis
Crinibus, et teneris, Delia, parce genis.'
The same belief is recorded in Germany, Scandinavia, India, Persia, and
ancient Greece, as well as in England and Scotland (see Sir Walter
Scott, _Red-gauntlet_, letter xi., note 2).