Hind Etin
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Hind Etin (Roud 33, Child 41) is a folk ballad existing in several variants.
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[edit] 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 christened, 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.
[edit] Commentary
The meeting in the woods is often similar, when not identical, to Tam Lin's meeting with Fair Janet.
The oldest boy's revelation of how she can escape is similar to many swan maiden stories, in which the child helps a supernatural mother escape a mortal husband, but in those tales, the mother invariably leaves the child behind.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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