Hind Etin
Encyclopedia
"Hind Etin" is a folk ballad
existing in several variants.
, nor she herself churched
. One day, her oldest son goes hunting with Hind Etin and asks him why his mother always weeps. Hind Etin tells him, and then one day goes hunting without him. The oldest son takes his mother and brothers and brings them out of the woods. In some variants, they are welcomed back; in all, the children are christened, and their mother, churched.
's meeting with Fair Janet.
In some variants, the mother's grief expresses itself as hostility to the children, wishing they were rats and she a cat, as in "Fair Annie
"; her comments inspire a child's suggestion that they try to leave, which is accomplished easily, with no reason why they could not have fled before.
The etin of the Scottish version is, in Scandinavian and German versions, an elf-king, a hill-king, a dwarf-king, or even a merman. Only in the Danish is the ballad found before the nineteenth century; a sixteenth-century Danish form, "Jomfruen og Dværgekongen". In some versions, she is lured or forced back to her husband; this may end tragically, with her death from sorrow. The German variant, "Agnes and the Mermaid", has the husband say they must divide the children, and since they have an odd number, they must split one in two.
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
existing in several variants.
Synopsis
Lady Margaret goes to the woods, and her breaking a branch is questioned by Hind Etin, who takes her with him into the forest. She bears him seven sons, but laments that they are never christenedBaptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
, nor she herself churched
Churching of women
In Christian tradition the Churching of Women is the ceremony wherein a blessing is given to mothers after recovery from childbirth. The ceremony includes thanksgiving for the woman's survival of childbirth, and is performed even when the child is stillborn, or has died unbaptized.Although the...
. One day, her oldest son goes hunting with Hind Etin and asks him why his mother always weeps. Hind Etin tells him, and then one day goes hunting without him. The oldest son takes his mother and brothers and brings them out of the woods. In some variants, they are welcomed back; in all, the children are christened, and their mother, churched.
Motifs
The meeting in the woods is often similar, when not identical, to Tam LinTam Lin
Tam Lin is the hero of a legendary ballad originating from the Scottish Borders. The story revolves around the rescue of Tam Lin by his true love from the Queen of the Fairies...
's meeting with Fair Janet.
In some variants, the mother's grief expresses itself as hostility to the children, wishing they were rats and she a cat, as in "Fair Annie
Fair Annie
-Synopsis:A lord tells Fair Annie to prepare a welcome for his bride, and to look like a maiden. Annie laments that she has borne him seven sons and is pregnant with the eighth; she can not look like a maiden. She welcomes the bride but laments her fate, even wishing her sons evil, that they...
"; her comments inspire a child's suggestion that they try to leave, which is accomplished easily, with no reason why they could not have fled before.
The etin of the Scottish version is, in Scandinavian and German versions, an elf-king, a hill-king, a dwarf-king, or even a merman. Only in the Danish is the ballad found before the nineteenth century; a sixteenth-century Danish form, "Jomfruen og Dværgekongen". In some versions, she is lured or forced back to her husband; this may end tragically, with her death from sorrow. The German variant, "Agnes and the Mermaid", has the husband say they must divide the children, and since they have an odd number, they must split one in two.