Cecil Sharp's Note 24 (1916)

No. 24. The Unquiet Grave, or, Cold Blows the Wind

This ballad, of which I have collected a large number of variants, is widely known and sung by English folksingers. A Scottish version, “Charles Graeme,” is in Buchan’s Ancient Ballads and Songs; while several traditional versions of the words are printed by Child. Compare the ballad of “William and Marjorie” (Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. 186), and versions of the well-known “William and Margaret.” For variants with tunes, see the Journal of the Folk-Song Society (volume i, pp. 119 and 192; volume ii, p. 6); English County Songs (p. 34); Songs of the West (p. 12, 2d ed.); and English Traditional Songs and Carols (p. 50). The words of the sixth stanza in the text refer to an ancient belief that a maiden betrothed to a man was pledged to him after his death, and was compelled to follow him into the spirit world unless she was able to perform certain tasks or solve certain riddles that he propounded. In this particular version the position is, of course, reversed, and it is the maiden who lies in the grave. Compare “Scarborough Fair” (No. 74).