Young Hunting

"Young Hunting" is a folk song, collected by Francis James Child as Child ballad number 68. [Francis James Child, "English and Scottish Popular Ballads", [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch068.htm "Young Hunting"] ] Many variants of the song exist, notably under the title of "Henry Lee" and "Love Henry" in the United States.

ynopsis

A young man (Young Hunting) tells a woman who loves him, and may have borne him a child, that he is in love with another, much more beautiful woman. Despite this, she persuades him to drink until he is drunk, then to come to her bedroom, or at least kiss her farewell. The woman then stabs him to death. She throws the body in the river (sometimes with the help of the other women of the town, whom she bribes with a diamond ring), and is taunted by a bird. She tries to lure it down, but it tells her that she will kill it if it comes within reach. When the search for Young Hunting starts, she either denies seeing him or claims that he left earlier, but his body is found, her guilt revealed, and she is burned at the stake.

Variants

In some versions the song ends with the female character's encounter with the bird, and does not specify what her eventual fate was.

Other ballads with similar themes include
*"The False Lover Won Back"
*"Child Waters"
*"Young Benjie"

The tune to which Henry Lee is sung is similar to The Fatal Flower Garden.

References