“It is not for me to say that the question of the origin of the ballad is a futile one, but it is a question which I have never been able to approach without a sense of utter inadequacy.”— Francis James Child
“I'm that same David Crockett, fresh from the backwoods, half-horse, half-alligator, a little touched with the snapping turtle.”— Davy Crockett
“It is the eve of St. George's Day. Do you not know that tonight, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway?”— Bram Stoker
“Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen, We daren't go a-hunting For fear of little men.”— William Allingham
“The text of a traditional ballad is often a fragile thing, a phantom which is always eluding our grasp.”— Francis James Child