The Twa Magicians

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"The Twa Magicians" or "The Two Magicians" is Child ballad number 44.[1]

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

A blacksmith threatens to deflower (take her virginity) a lady, who vows to keep herself a maiden. A transformation chase ensues, differing in several variants, but containing such things as she becomes a hare, and he catches her as greyhound, she became a duck and he became either a water dog or a drake. In the Child version of the ballad she does not escape, but in other common renderings (eg. the Steeleye Span rendition), she does.

[edit] Motifs

In ballads, the man chasing the woman appears more often in conversation that in fact, when a woman says she will flee, and the man retorts he will chase her, through a variety of forms; these tales are often graceful teasing.[2]

Francis James Child regarded it as derived from one of two fairy tale forms.

The first is where a young man and woman flee an enemy by taking on new forms.[3] This type is Aarne-Thompson type 313, the girl helps the hero flee; instances of it include "Jean, the Soldier, and Eulalie, the Devil's Daughter", "The Grateful Prince", "Foundling-Bird", and "The Two Kings' Children".

The other is where a young man, studying with a sorcerer, flees his master by taking on new forms, which his master counters by equivalent forms.[4] This is Aarne-Thompson type 325, the magician and his pupil; instances include "The Thief and His Master", "Farmer Weathersky", "Master and Pupil", and "Maestro Lattantio and His Apprentice Dionigi".

[edit] References

  1. ^ Francis James Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, "The Two Magicians"
  2. ^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 1, p 399-400, Dover Publications, New York 1965
  3. ^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 1, p 401, Dover Publications, New York 1965
  4. ^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 1, p 401, Dover Publications, New York 1965

[edit] External links

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