This ballad about a maid who kills a would-be lady-killer is known in England as "Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight", in France as "Renaud le Tueur de Femmes", in Scandinavia as "Kvindemorderen", and in the Netherlands and Belgium as "Heer Halewijn"; in the German-speaking area it is called "Ulinger" or "Ulrich". Having analysed the features acquired by the ballad in different countries and compared the traditions of various language areas, the author draws the conclusion that the Netherlands ballad is the oldest of them all and acted as a model for Scandinavian and French versions.
Author(s): Holger Olof Nygard
Series: Folklore Fellows Communications, 169
Publisher: The University of Tennessee Press
Year: 1958
Language: English
Pages: IV+350
City: Knoxville
Chapter I. Approach to the Subject: Matters of Method and Source 7
The Pursuit of Sources: Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight as Exemplar 21
Chapter II. "Heer Halewijn", "Ulinger", and "Ulrich": the Ballad in Dutch, Flemish, and German 35
Chapter III. "Kvindemorderen": The Ballad in Scandinavia 89
1. The Ballad in Denmark 89
2. The Ballad in Swedish 138
3. The Ballad in Norway 152
4. The Ballad in Iceland 195
Chapter IV. "Renaud le Tueur de Femmes": the Ballad in French 200
1. The Ballad in France 200
2. The Ballad in French Canada 224
Chapter V. "Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight": the Ballad in Great Britain 256
The A and B Variants, with Animadversions upon Peter Buchan 297
Chapter VI. Conclusion: the Centre of the Tradition and its Narrative Changes 317
Notes
Chapter I 328
Chapter II 330
Chapter III 331
Chapter IV 333
Chapter V 335
Chapter VI 341
Bibliography 342
