Puzzle Description:

....Child being the Nominus Paternus of he who compiled in the late 1800s.... One puzzle per verse, can anyone guess which ballad this is before I publish it?

#1: Web Paint-By-Number Robot (webpbn) on Nov 15, 2020

New version published by BRASH.

Terrific puzzle! The image is amazing. is it Old King Cole?

I was going to guess "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" until I solved the beard. :)

Old King Cole is my guess, as well.

Beautiful puzzle. The ring was a nice touch.

Great puzzle!

This is the version sung by Michael Cooney, probably on his album Singer of Old Songs. There are numerous other verses, analysis, etc, but it's already complex enough to try to illustrate in puzzle form....

Sir Patrick Spens (#58)

The king sits in Dunfermline toune,
Drinking his blud red wine,
Says, "Where will I find a gud saylor
To sail this ship of mine?"

"Blud" is pronounced "bloohd."
This Scottish song earned me eternal honors from my favorite English teacher who presented this song in Senior English. He had never heard it set to music before. I also earned points against my sometime nemesis by identifying the "blud" as the earliest foreshadowing....not that I'm still keeping score or anything. (She's clearly won the long run....)

Very nice illustration. Lots of detail. No guessing.

Buena imagen, aunque no conozco esa historia.

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