View source for The Maid Freed from the Gallows

{{Short description|Folk song}}
{{redirect|The Gallows Tree|a tree used for execution by hanging|Gallows tree}}
{{redirect|The Golden Ball|the English socialite|The Golden Ball (dandy)|other uses|Golden Ball (disambiguation)}}
{{redirect|The Sycamore Tree||Sycamore (disambiguation)}}
{{redirect|Gallows Pole}}
"'''The Maid Freed from the Gallows'''" is one of many titles of a centuries-old [[Folk music|folk song]] about a condemned maiden pleading for someone to buy her freedom from the executioner. Other variants and/or titles include '''"The Gallows Pole"''', '''"The Gallis Pole"''', '''"Hangman"''', '''"The Prickle-Holly Bush"''', '''"The Golden Ball"''', and '''"Hold Up Your Hand, Old Joshua She Cried."'''<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=The Maid Freed From the Gallows / The Prickly Bush / The Prickle-Holly Bush / Prickle-Eye Bush / The Golden Ball (Roud 144; Child 95; G/D 2:248) |url=https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/themaidfreedfromthegallows.html |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=mainlynorfolk.info}}</ref> In the collection of ballads compiled by [[Francis James Child]] in the late 19th century, it is indexed as [[Child Ballad]] number 95; 11 variants, some fragmentary, are indexed as 95A to 95K.<ref name="child">{{cite news| author=Child, Francis James| author-link=Francis James Child|work=English and Scottish Popular Ballads| url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch095.htm|title=The Maid Freed from the Gallows}}</ref> The [[Roud Folk Song Index]] identifies it as number 144.
The ballad exists in a number of folkloric variants, from many different countries, and has been remade in a variety of formats. For example, it was recorded commercially in 1939 as "The Gallis Pole" by folk singer [[Lead Belly|Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter]], and in 1970 as "Gallows Pole", an arrangement of the [[Fred Gerlach]] version, by English [[rock music|rock]] band [[Led Zeppelin]], on the album ''[[Led Zeppelin III]]''.
==Synopsis==
There are many versions, all of which recount a similar story. A maiden (a young unmarried woman) or man is about to be hanged (in many variants, for unknown reasons) pleads with the hangman, or judge, to wait for the arrival of someone who may bribe him. Typically, the first person (or people) to arrive, who may include the condemned person's parent or sibling, has brought nothing and often has come to see them hanged. The last person to arrive, often their true love, has brought the gold, silver, or some other valuable to save them.<ref name="child"/> Although the traditional versions do not resolve the fate of the condemned one way or the other,{{citation needed|date=July 2012}} it may be presumed that the bribe would succeed. Depending on the version, the condemned may curse all those who failed them.
One such refrain goes:
{{poemquote|Hangman, hangman, hangman / slack your rope awhile.
I think I see my father / ridin' many a mile.
"Father, did you bring any silver? / father, did you bring any gold,
Or did you come to see me / hangin' from the gallows pole?"
"No, I didn't bring any silver, / no I didn't bring any gold.
I just come to see you / hangin' from the gallows pole."}}
It has been suggested that the reference to "gold" may not mean actual gold for a bribe, but may instead stand for the symbolic restoration of condemned person's honor, perhaps by proving their innocence, honesty, or fidelity, or the maiden's virginity. Such an interpretation would explain why a number of the song's variations have the condemned person asking whether the visitors have brought gold ''or'' paid the fee. In at least one version the reply is: "I haven't brought you gold / But I have paid your fee."<ref name=Wolf>{{cite news|url=http://www.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/riddlehangman1260.html|publisher=Lyon.edu|work=Wolf Folklore Collection|title=Hangman, Slacken (The Maid Freed From the Gallows; Hold Your Hands, Old Man)|access-date=2016-07-26|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921083328/http://www.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/riddlehangman1260.html|archive-date=2016-09-21}}</ref>
The song is also known as "The Prickly Bush",<ref>E. David Gregory, ''The Late Victorian Folksong Revival: The Persistence of English Melody, 1878-1903'' (2010), p. 323.</ref> or "The Prickilie Bush",<ref>Dr. Allan Moore, "[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340565183_Observations_on_the_Ontology_of_the_Folk_Song Observations on the Ontology of the Folk Song]", University of Surrey (April 2020), p. 1-2, DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.21725.97760.</ref><ref>"Reviews of New Albums", ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' (November 27, 1961), p. 28.</ref> a title derived from the oft-used refrain lamenting the maiden's situation by likening it to being caught in a briery bush, which prickles her heart.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} In versions carrying this theme, the typical refrain may add:
{{poemquote|O the prickly bush, the prickly bush,
It pricked my heart full sore;
If ever I get out of the prickly bush,
I'll never get in any more.}}
== Melody ==
The following is one version of the melody and lyrics, as collected by Reed Smith in [[McDowell County, West Virginia]] in 1902, and published in 1925:<ref>{{cite book |first=Reed |last=Smith |title=The Traditional Ballad and Its South Carolina Survivals |publisher=University of South Carolina, Extension division |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=frc4AAAAIAAJ |date=1925 |access-date=2022-12-28 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
{{Block indent|<score raw="1" sound="1">
\header {
tagline = ""
title = "The Maid Freed From The Gallows"
subtitle = "or, The Hangman's Tree"
composer = "trad."
arranger = "Reed Smith"
}
\score {
\relative c''' {
\key b \minor
\set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t
\tempo 2. = 35
\time 4/4
\bar ""
b,4. b8 b2
fis4. e8 d4 b4
b8 d4. d4 b4
d2.
a'4
a8 a4. a4 b4
d4 b4 a8 fis4.
a4 b4 a4. fis8
a2.
a4
b8 d4. b4 a4
fis4 a4 a4. a8
b8 d4. b4 a4
fis2.
a4
b8 d4. b4 a4
fis4 e4 d4 b4
d4 d4 d8 d4.
d2.
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b8 d4. b4 a4
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fis2. a4
b8 d4 b4 a4
fis4 e4 d8 b4.
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\addlyrics {
Slack your rope, hangs- -- a- -- man,
O slack it for a while;
I think I see my fa -- ther com -- ing,
Ri -- ding many a mile.
O fa -- ther have you brought me gold?
Or have you paid my fee?
Or have you come to see me hang -- ing
On the gall -- ows -- tree?
I have not brought you gold;
I have not paid your fee;
But I have come to see you hang -- ing
On the gall -- ows -- tree.
}
\midi { }
\layout { }
}
</score>}}
== Variants and collected versions ==
[[Lucy Broadwood]] published a version of the song in her influential book "English Country songs" (1893).<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Prickly Bush (Roud Folksong Index S158755)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S158755|access-date=2020-10-03|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref> In the early 1900s, [[Cecil Sharp]] collected many versions throughout England, from [[Yorkshire]] to [[Somerset]], and his notes and transcriptions are available via the [[Vaughan Williams Memorial Library]] website.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Waly Waly / The Prickly Bush (Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) CJS2/10/800)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/CJS2/10/800|access-date=2020-10-03|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Prickly Bush (Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) CJS2/10/2122)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/CJS2/10/2122|access-date=2020-10-03|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Briery Bush / The Prickly Bush (Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) CJS2/10/2559)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/CJS2/10/2559|access-date=2020-10-03|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref>
=== Field recordings ===
{{main|Field recording}}
Many audio recordings have been made by folk song collectors of traditional versions of the song. The English version of the song tends to be called "The Prickle Holly Bush", several recordings of which were made around the middle of the twentieth century, particularly in the south of England.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Search: rn144 England sound|url=https://www.vwml.org/search?q=rn144%20England%20sound&is=1|website=Vaughan Williams Memorial Library}}</ref> Folklorist [[Peter Kennedy (folklorist)|Peter Kennedy]] recorded Walter Lucas of [[Sixpenny Handley]], Dorset singing a version in 1951,<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Prickle Holly Bush (Roud Folksong Index S187910)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S187910|access-date=2020-10-03|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref> and Sarah Ann Tuck of nearby [[Chideock|Chideok]] singing a similar version the following year.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Pricketty Bush (Roud Folksong Index S249402)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S249402|access-date=2020-10-03|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref> [[Copper Family|Bob Copper]] recorded Fred Hewett of [[Mapledurwell]], [[Hampshire]], singing a version in 1955.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Prickle-holly Bush (Roud Folksong Index S187912)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S187912|access-date=2020-10-03|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref> The song seems far less prevalent in Ireland and Scotland.{{citation needed|reason=Web searches, being ephemeral, are not acceptable as sources and in this context also constituted [[WP:OR|original research]]|date=December 2021}}
Several American versions have been recorded, particularly in the [[Appalachian Mountains|Appalachian]] region, where English folk songs had been preserved.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-07-11|title=Why did Cecil Sharp go to the Appalachians?|url=https://www.efdss.org/about-us/what-we-do/news/4873-why-did-cecil-sharp-go-to-the-appalachians|access-date=2020-10-03|website=English Folk Dance and Song Society|language=en-gb}}</ref> Frank Proffitt of Pick Britches, [[North Carolina]] was recorded by W. Amos Abrams in c. 1939.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Maid Freed From the Gallows, the (hangman's Song) (Roud Folksong Index S397380)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S397380|access-date=2020-10-03|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref> [[Jean Ritchie]] of [[Viper, Kentucky|Viper]], [[Kentucky]] sang a traditional version learnt from family members, which was recorded by [[Alan Lomax]] (1949)<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Hangman Song (Roud Folksong Index S341764)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S341764|access-date=2020-10-03|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref> and [[Kenneth S. Goldstein|Kenneth Goldstein]] (1961)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Hangman (Roud Folksong Index S207613)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S207613|access-date=2020-10-03|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref> and released on the album "The Best of Jean Ritchie" (1961) with a [[Appalachian dulcimer|mountain dulcimer]] accompaniment.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jean Ritchie – The Best Of Jean Ritchie|url=https://www.discogs.com/Jean-Ritchie-The-Best-Of-Jean-Ritchie/release/4353615|access-date=2020-10-03|website=Discogs|date=January 1961 |language=en}}</ref> [[Sarah Ogan Gunning]], another Kentuckian, sang a similar version to collector Mark Wilson in 1974.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Hangman (Roud Folksong Index S307908)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S307908|access-date=2020-10-03|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref> An unusual version sung by Mrs. Lena Bare Turbyfill of Elk Park, North Carolina was collected by Herbert Halpert in 1939 as part of a WPA project.<ref>{{Cite web |title="Hold up your hand, old Joshua!", she cried |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/afc9999005.7528/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA|date=April 1939 }}</ref> Her version is notable for being the only recorded version that mentions the theft of a "golden key" as the reason for the protagonist's execution.<ref>{{Cite web|title='Hold Up Your Hand Old Joshua!' She Cried, by Mrs. Lena Bare Turbyfill|url=https://deathisnot.bandcamp.com/track/hold-up-your-hand-old-joshua-she-cried|access-date=2021-10-19|website=Death Is Not The End|language=en}}</ref>
=== Lyrics ===
[[Francis James Child]] called the English language version "defective and distorted", in that, in most cases, the narrative rationale had been lost and only the ransoming sequence remained. Numerous European variants explain the reason for the ransom: the heroine has been captured by pirates.<ref name="Child2">Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 2, p 346–350, [[Dover Publications]], New York 1965.</ref>  Of the texts he prints, one (95F) had "degenerated" into a children's game, while others had survived as part of a Northern English [[cante-fable]], The Golden Ball (or Key).<ref name="Child2" />
The most extensive version is not a song at all, but a fairy story titled "The Golden Ball", re-published by [[Joseph Jacobs]] in ''More English Fairy Tales,'' from Henderson's ''Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties'' where it had originally been contributed by Sabine Barring-Gould. The story focuses on the exploits of the fiancé who must recover a golden ball in order to save his love from the noose. The incident resembles ''[[The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was]]''.<ref>Jacobs, Joseph (ed.). [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/jacobs/moreenglish/goldenball.html "The Golden Ball"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200502213552/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/jacobs/moreenglish/goldenball.html |date=2020-05-02 }}. ''More English Fairy Tales''. New York: [[G. P. Putnam's Sons]], 1894.</ref>  Other fairy tales in the English language, telling the story more fully, always retell some variant on the heroine's being hanged for losing an object of gold.<ref>Tristram P. Coffin. "The Golden Ball and the Hangman's Tree". p 23–24. D. K. Wilgus, ''Folklore International: essay in traditional literature, belief and custom in honor of [[Wayland Debs Hand]]'', Folklore Associates, Inc. Hatboro, Pennsylvania, 1967.</ref>
==Commercial recordings==
===Lead Belly version===
Folksinger Huddie "[[Lead Belly]]" Ledbetter, who also popularized such songs as "[[Cotton Fields]]" and "[[Midnight Special (song)|Midnight Special]]", first recorded "The Gallis Pole" in the 1930s accompanied by his own twelve-string guitar. His haunting, shrill [[tenor]] delivers the lyrical counterpoint, and his story is punctuated with spoken-word passages, as he "interrupts his song to discourse on its theme".<ref>Richard Mercer Dorson, ''American Folklore'' (1959) p. 196.</ref>
[[Country blues]] trio [[Koerner, Ray & Glover]] covered the Lead Belly version on their 1963 debut album ''[[Blues, Rags and Hollers]]'', under the title "Hangman."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AVQbF9lTBwgC&dq=%22Blues%2C+Rags+and+Hollers%22+%22leadbelly%22+hangman&pg=PA40|title=The Mojo Collection: 4th Edition|first=Various Mojo|last=Magazine|date=November 1, 2007|publisher=Canongate Books|isbn=9781847676436 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
===John Jacob Niles versions===
Folk singer [[John Jacob Niles]] recorded the song at least twice: On March 25, 1940, as "The Maid Freed from the Gallows", re-issued on the compilation album ''My Precarious Life in the Public Domain'', then in April 1960 in a more dramatic version as "The Hangman" on his album ''The Ballads of John Jacob Niles''.
===Odetta version===
Folksinger [[Odetta]] released the song under the title "The Gallows Pole" on her third album ''[[At the Gate of Horn]]'' in 1957 and on her live album ''[[Odetta at Carnegie Hall]]'', recorded on April 8, 1960.
==={{anchor|Anathea|Seven Curses}}Judy Collins and Bob Dylan versions===
[[Judy Collins]] performed the song "Anathea" throughout 1963 (including a rendition at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival), credited to Neil Roth and Lydia Wood. It is thematically similar to the Hungarian "Feher Anna", even to the detail of the name of the brother (Lazlo).{{citation needed|date=August 2018}} It appeared on her third album, ''[[Judy Collins 3]]'', released in early 1964.
[[Bob Dylan]] recorded a thematically similar "Seven Curses" in 1963, during the sessions for his ''[[The Times They Are a-Changin' (Bob Dylan album)|The Times They Are A-Changin']]'' album. Dylan first performed the song in April 1963 at his Town Hall concert, and would perform it again at his October 1963 Carnegie Hall show.<ref>[https://bootlegpedia.com/en/song/Seven_Curses Bootlegpedia, "Seven Curses"].</ref> The song tells a similar story but from the point of view of the condemned's daughter. Here, it is not the maiden who is to be hanged but her father, for stealing a stallion.  The woman offers to buy her father's freedom from the judge, who responds:  "Gold will never free your father/ the price my dear is you, instead".  The maiden pays the judge's terrible price but wakes the next morning to find that her father has been hanged, anyway.<ref>[https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/seven-curses/ Lyrics to "Seven Curses"] The Official Bob Dylan website</ref> Dylan's development of the song came soon after his return from England where he met A.L. "Bert" Lloyd who has claimed credit for translating into English the above referenced Hungarian folksong.
==={{anchor|The Streets of Derry}}Derry Gaol/The Streets of Derry===
An Irish version of the song, entitled "Derry Gaol" or "The Streets of Derry" ({{Roud|896}}), has the young man marching through the streets of [[Derry]] "more like a commanding officer / Than a man to die upon the gallows tree". As he mounts the gallows, his true love comes riding, bearing a pardon from the Queen (or the King). It was first recorded by [[County Armagh]] singer [[Sarah Makem]] on ''The Folk Songs of Britain, Vol. 7: Fair Game and Foul'' (1961), and subsequently by [[Shirley Collins]], [[Trees (band)|Trees]], [[The Bothy Band]], [[Cara Dillon]], [[Andy Irvine (musician)|Andy Irvine]] and [[Paul Brady]], [[June Tabor]], [[Peter Bellamy]] and [[Spiers & Boden]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Zierke|first1=Reinhard|title=The Streets of Derry / Derry Gaol / Hail a Brighter Day|url=https://mainlynorfolk.info/shirley.collins/songs/thestreetsofderry.html|website=Mainly Norfolk|access-date=April 15, 2015}}</ref>{{better source needed|reason=apparently self-published website|date=October 2020}}
===Led Zeppelin version===
{{Infobox song
| name  = Gallows Pole
| cover = Gallows Pole.png
| caption = Advance copy 5:11 stereo single
| artist = [[Led Zeppelin]]
| album = [[Led Zeppelin III]]
| released = {{Start date|1970|10|5|df=y}}
| recorded = 1970
| studio = [[Headley Grange]], England
| genre =
*[[Folk blues]]<ref>{{Cite book |title=Led Zeppelin All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track|first1=Jean-Michel|last1=Guesdon|first2=Philippe|last2=Margotin|edition=eBook|date=October 23, 2018|publisher=Running Press|isbn=978-0316418034}}</ref>
*[[Bluegrass music|bluegrass]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.guitarworld.com/magazine/50-greatest-led-zeppelin-songs|title=The 50 Greatest Led Zeppelin Songs|last=Brown|first=Jimmy|date=January 9, 2015|website=[[Guitar World]]|access-date=March 15, 2019}}</ref>
| length = {{Duration|4:58}}
| label = [[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]]
| writer = [[Folk music|Traditional]], {{arr|link=yes}} by [[Jimmy Page]], [[Robert Plant]]
| producer = Jimmy Page
}}
English band [[Led Zeppelin]] recorded the song as "Gallows Pole" for their album ''[[Led Zeppelin III]]'' in 1970. The album is a shift in style for the band towards acoustic material, influenced by a holiday [[Jimmy Page]] and [[Robert Plant]] took to the [[Bron-Yr-Aur]] cottage in the Welsh countryside.<ref name=Complete>Dave Lewis (1994), ''The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin'', [[Omnibus Press]], {{ISBN|0-7119-3528-9}}.</ref> The liner notes include the songwriting credit "Traditional: Arranged by Page and Plant".
Page adapted the song from a version by American folk musician [[Fred Gerlach]],<ref name=Complete /><ref name="lzref">{{cite web |title=Jimmy Page discusses making Led Zeppelin III |url=http://www.led-zeppelin.org/reference/index.php?m=int3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061118130908/http://led-zeppelin.org/reference/index.php?m=int3 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=November 18, 2006 |access-date=2012-08-09}}</ref> which is included on his 1962 album ''Twelve-String Guitar'' for [[Folkways Records]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.folkways.si.edu/fred-gerlach/twelve-string-guitar-folk-songs-and-blues-sung-and-played-by/american/music/album/smithsonian |title=Twelve-String Guitar: Folk Songs and Blues Sung and Played by Fred Gerlach &#124; Smithsonian Folkways |website=Folkways.si.edu |date=2013-03-20 |access-date=2016-07-26}}</ref>
====Composition====
"Gallows Pole" begins as a simple acoustic guitar rhythm; mandolin is added in, then electric bass guitar shortly afterwards, and then banjo and drums simultaneously join in. The instrumentation builds up to a crescendo, increasing in tempo as the song progresses. The acoustic guitar chord progression (in standard tuning) is simple with a riff based on variations of the open A chord and the chords D and G occurring in the verse. Page played banjo, six and 12 string acoustic guitar and electric guitar (a [[Gibson Les Paul]]), while [[John Paul Jones (musician)|John Paul Jones]] played mandolin and bass.<ref name=Complete /><ref name="lzref" />
Page has stated that, similar to the song "[[Battle of Evermore]]" that was included on their [[Led Zeppelin IV|fourth album]], the song emerged spontaneously when he started experimenting with Jones' banjo, an instrument he had never before played. "I just picked it up and started moving my fingers around until the chords sounded right, which is the same way I work on compositions when the guitar's in different tunings."<ref name=Schulps>Dave Schulps, [http://www.iem.ac.ru/zeppelin/docs/interviews/page_77.trp "Interview with Jimmy Page"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110820054853/http://www.iem.ac.ru/zeppelin/docs/interviews/page_77.trp |date=2011-08-20 }}, ''[[Trouser Press]]'', October 1977.</ref> It is also one of Page's favourite songs on ''Led Zeppelin III''.<ref name="lzref" />
Led Zeppelin performed the song a few times live during [[Led Zeppelin concerts]] in 1971.<ref name=Complete /> Page and Plant recorded a live acoustic version for their 1994 album. ''[[No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/r207800/review |last=Erlewine |first=Stephen Thomas |author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine |title=''No Quarter''{{snd}}Review |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=14 June 2023}}</ref>
====Reception====
In a retrospective review of ''[[Led Zeppelin Deluxe Edition#Led Zeppelin III|Led Zeppelin III (Deluxe Edition)]]'', Kristofer Lenz of ''[[Consequence of Sound]]'' gave "Gallows Pole" a positive review, writing the track is "an excellent representation of Page’s acoustic prowess, as his simple guitar line is soon joined by 12-string and banjo."<ref name="CoS">{{cite web|last1=Lenz|first1=Kristofer|title=Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin III [Reissue]|url=https://consequenceofsound.net/2014/06/album-review-led-zeppelin-led-zeppelin-iii/|website=CoS|access-date=13 August 2017|date=6 June 2014}}</ref> Lenz further wrote that Jones joins the fun as well, "as he adds some mandolin flourish to the mix."<ref name="CoS"/>
=== The Watersons version ===
English folk group [[The Watersons]] recorded a version called "The Prickle-Holly Bush," with [[Martin Carthy]] singing lead, for their 1981 album ''Green Fields''. They learned it from the singing of Bill Whiting, of [[Longcot|Longcot, Oxfordshire]].<ref name=":0" />
==Variations in other countries==
{{more citations needed|date=April 2020}}
Some 50 versions have been reported in Finland, where it is well known as "''Lunastettava neito''". It is titled "''Den Bortsålda''" in Sweden ( "''Die Losgekaufte''" in German). A Lithuanian version has the maid asking relatives to ransom her with their best animals or belongings (crown, house, crown, ring, sword, etc.). The maiden curses her relatives who refuse to give up their property and blesses her fiancé, who does ransom her.
In a Hungarian version called "''Feher Anna''", collected by [[Béla Bartók]] in his study ''The Hungarian Folk Song,'' Anna's brother László is imprisoned for stealing horses.  Anna sleeps with Judge Horváth to free him but is unsuccessful in sparing his life. She then regales the judge with 13 curses.
"Cecilia" is one of the best known and more diffused songs in the Italian popular music. With no reference to any curse, it tells a story not very different from those of "Feher Anna" and "Seven Curses". Cecilia's husband has been condemned to be hanged, and she asks the captain how it is possible to spare his life. The captain promises to save her husband if Cecilia sleeps with him, but in the morning Cecilia sees from the window her man has been hanged.<ref>Roberto Leydi. I canti popolari italiani, Mondadori, Milano, 1973.</ref>
The song is also found in [[Northern Sami]], titled ''Nieida Kajon sis'', which tells a story that strongly resembles the Lithuanian version. The maid asks her relatives (father, mother, brother, sister, and uncle) to ransom her with their best belongings or animals (horse, cow, sword, crown, and ship).<ref>Anders Larsen, ''Mærrasámid birra/Om sjøsamene'', pages 53 and 64, [[Tromsø University Museum]], Tromsø 1950.</ref>
[[Francis James Child]] describes additional examples from the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Russia, and Slovenia, several of which feature a man being ransomed by a woman.<ref name=Child2/>
The theme of delaying one's execution while awaiting rescue by relatives appears with a similar structure in the 1697 classic fairy tale "[[Bluebeard]]" by [[Charles Perrault]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0312.html |title=Bluebeard: Folktales of types 312 and 312A |website=Pitt.edu |date=2014-11-14 |access-date=2016-07-26}}</ref> (translated into English in 1729).
==See also==
* [[List of the Child Ballads]]
* The folk ballad "[[Geordie (ballad)|Geordie]]" also features a rescue from the gallows by a payment.
*[[List of Led Zeppelin songs written or inspired by others]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
*Eleanor Long, ''"The Maid" and "The Hangman": Myth and Tradition in a Popular Ballad'' ([[University of California Press]] [Folklore Studies: 21], 1971, xiii+170 pp.) {{ISBN|0-520-09144-2}}.
*Eleanor Long, ''Child 95 "The maid freed from the gallows": a geographical-historical study.'' 1968.
{{refend}}
{{Francis James Child}}
{{Led Zeppelin songs}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maid Freed from the Gallows, The}}
[[Category:Year of song unknown]]
[[Category:Songs with unknown songwriters]]
[[Category:American folk songs]]
[[Category:Lead Belly songs]]
[[Category:Led Zeppelin songs]]
[[Category:Peter, Paul and Mary songs]]
[[Category:Songs written by Jimmy Page]]
[[Category:Songs written by Robert Plant]]
[[Category:Child Ballads]]
[[Category:Song recordings produced by Jimmy Page]]
[[Category:Atlantic Records singles]]