"The Maid Freed from the Gallows" is one of many titles of a centuries-old folk song about a condemned maiden pleading for someone to buy her freedom from the executioner. In the collection of ballads compiled by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century, it is indexed as Child Ballad number 95; eleven variants, some fragmentary, are indexed as 95A to 95K. The Roud number is 144. The ballad existed in a number of folkloric variants from many different countries, and has been remade in a variety of formats. It was recorded in 1939 as "The Gallis Pole" by folk singer Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, but the most famous version was the 1970 arrangement of the Fred Gerlach version by English rock band Led Zeppelin, which was titled "Gallows Pole" on the album Led Zeppelin III.
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Famous quotes containing the words maid and/or freed:
“No more but e’en a woman, and commanded
By such poor passion as the maid that milks
And does the meanest chares.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I am the LORD, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 6:6,7.