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Scarborough Fair
"Scarborough Fair" (Roud 12, Child 2) is a traditional ballad of northern England. Its words have much in common with the Scottish ballad "The Elfin Knight", which Francis James Child collected as his second ballad and which has been traced back to 1670; in it an elf threatens to carry off a young woman unless she performs an impossible task, and she answers with impossible tasks of her own.
Songs in history
See also
Cite this entry
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Scarborough Fair. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/scarborough-fair
- MLA
- “Scarborough Fair.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/scarborough-fair. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Scarborough Fair.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/scarborough-fair.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Scarborough Fair’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/scarborough-fair (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻