ABSTRACT
The question of cultural function is one of the central concerns of oral-narrative research as well as one of the most complex and problematic. Faced with a narrative such as “The Gypsy Laddie” (Child #200), which has been among the most popular ballads in the English language for well over two hundred years, one of the most useful approaches a scholar can take is to examine the nature and sources of its hold upon the emotions and memory of English-speaking people. The ballad’splot and motifs have remained remarkably consistent, while the emotional tone and interpretation placed upon them have varied greatly. Why do we sing it? Why do we like it? Why have thousands of singers retained certain motifs and motif sequences, while feeling free to make quite individual changes in others? Have most singers liked and remembered the ballad for the same reasons, or does the variation in focus and interpretation indicate a corresponding variation in their understanding of and response to the ballad narrative? Does the same plot line serve different psychological or cultural functions for different singers?
