"The Maid Freed from the Gallows" is one of many titles of a centuries-old folk song about a condemned maiden pleading for someone to buy her freedom from the executioner. In the collection of ballads compiled by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century, it is indexed as Child Ballad number 95; eleven variants, some fragmentary, are indexed as 95A to 95K. The Roud number is 144. The ballad existed in a number of folkloric variants from many different countries, and has been remade in a variety of formats.
Although it exists in many forms, all versions recount a similar story. A maiden (a young unmarried woman) about to be hanged (for unknown reasons) pleads with the hangman, or judge, to wait for the arrival of someone who may bribe him. The first person (or people) to arrive, who may include the father, mother, brother, and sister, have brought nothing and often have come to see her hanged. The last person to arrive, often her true love, has brought the gold to save her. Although the traditional versions do not resolve the fate of the condemned one way or the other, it may be presumed that the bribe would succeed. Depending on the version, she may curse all those who failed her.
Hangman (The Maid Freed From the Gallows) by Real Clothes is licensed under a
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