"The Sweet Trinity", also known as "The Golden Vanity" or "The Golden Willow Tree", is Child Ballad 286. The first surviving version, about 1635, was "Sir Walter Raleigh Sailing In The Lowlands (Shewing how the famous Ship called the Sweet Trinity was taken by a false Gally & how it was again restored by the craft of a little Sea-boy, who sunk the Gally". Synopsis A captain of a ship (the Sweet Trinity or Golden Vanity or Golden Willow Tree of the title) laments the danger it is in; Sir Walter Raleigh complains that it was captured by a galley, but the commoner complaint is that it is in danger from another ship, which may be French, Turkish, Spanish, or British (British is featured in American variants.) A cabin boy offers to solve the problem. The captain promises him rich rewards, which vary enormously between versions. The boy swims to the ship, bores holes in its hull, and sinks i

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z # TAGS