+The Text+ of this ballad was taken down before the end of the
nineteenth century by the Rev. S. Baring Gould, from a blacksmith at
Thrushleton, Devon.
+The Story+ is a simple little tale which recalls _Barbara Allen_,
_Clerk Sanders_, _Lord Thomas and Fair Annet_, and others. I have placed
it here for contrast, and in illustration of the disdain of 'brown'
maids.