+The Text+ is from Herd's MSS., as given by Professor Child to form a
regular sequence. The ballad also exists in an English broadside form.
+The Story+ of the ballad has a close counterpart in Flemish Belgium,
and in southern France. The German variants, however, have a curious
history. The English broadside ballad was translated into German by
F. W. Meyer in 1789, and in this form gained such popularity that it was
circulated not only as a broadside, but actually in oral
tradition,--with the usual result of alteration. Its vogue was not
confined to Germany, but spread to Hungary and Scandinavia, a Swedish
broadside appearing within ten years of Meyer's translation.