+The Text+ is from the Percy Folio MS. The only other known text is a
fragment from Sir Walter Scott's recollection, printed in C. K. Sharpe's
_Ballad Book_.
+The Story+ is well known in the folklore of Europe, and is especially
common in the Scandinavian languages. As a rule, however, all these
ballads blend the story of the woman of Samaria with the traditions
concerning Mary Magdalen that were extant in mediæval times.
From the present ballad it could hardly be gathered (except, perhaps,
from stanza 11) that the old palmer represents Christ. This point is at
once obvious in the Scandinavian and other ballads.
The extraordinary burden in the English ballad is one of the most
elaborate in existence, and is quite as inexplicable as any.
The expression 'to lead an ape in hell' (14.2) occurs constantly in
Elizabethan and later literature, always in connection with women who
die, or expect to die, unmarried. Dyce says the expression 'never has
been (and _never will be_) satisfactorily explained'; but it was
suggested by Steevens that women who had no mate on earth should adopt
in hell an ape as a substitute.