The Dalby Bear, and Other Ballads

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About this book

A fearsome bear troubles the peasants of Dalby moors, but its encounter with a knight turns a struggle over livestock into a tale of enchantment. George Borrow gives the animal a voice and a royal past, setting blunt threats beside an appeal for help. The other ballads move between bridal celebrations and family danger, with flooded brooks, proud promises and a hostile stepmother shaping their conflicts.

These are stories told in verse, carried by direct speech, compact rhymes and recurring lines. In the ballad of Tygge Hermandsen, a bridegroom sends another man to fetch his bride because he fears crossing swollen streams. In The Wicked Stepmother, a young wife faces distress linked to a spell. Readers drawn to folklore can follow how ordinary decisions about courage, marriage and loyalty become entangled with forces beyond everyday life.

About the author

George Borrow

George Borrow was an English writer, translator, linguist, and traveler whose books draw on encounters across Britain and continental Europe. John Murray issued Lavengro in 1851; it blends autobiography and fiction as its wandering narrator moves through barrack towns, London literary work, and meetings with Romani communities.