The Bramble Briar

Synopsis

A girl of noble birth falls in love with a servant and the two agree to get married. However, her two brothers discover the tryst and, because they consider him too low-born for her, decide to murder him. They go out hunting in the woods early in the morning and take the servant along with them. One of the brothers kills the man and hides the body in a bramble thicket. Once back home, their sister asks them why they are whispering to each other and what has become of the servant. One of the brothers tells her that they have lost him somewhere that he will never be found. That night the girl dreams of her lover. He is dead and covered in blood. The following day, she goes out to the woods where she eventually finds the corpse in the briars. She kisses his dead lips and sits mourning with his body for three days. When she at last returns, her brothers ask her why she is whispering and she tells them to get away from her, calling them "bloody butchers". In other versions of the story, she severs the head of the unfortunate victim, and takes it back with her in a jar.

Commentary

The ballad was collected by Cecil Sharp in 1904 but is considerably older than that. It is a re-telling of a 14th-century tale called Isabella and the Pot of Basil by Boccaccio although, according to the The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs the story was probably not new even then. The English romantic poet, John Keats, adapted the story into a poem called Isabella, or the Pot of Basil. Pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt illustrated Keats's poem in his painting, Isabella and the Pot of Basil, in 1868.

Recordings

Many musicians have recorded the song, including, using the title "Bruton Town":

Using the title "Bramble Briar":