#revolutionaryshoe points out that an English version of this is Green grow the lilies/The well below the valley-o

[anarchotolkienist]

Found a disturbing and deeply patriarchal Swedish folk ballad, Maria Magdalena (Types of the Swedish Ballad B 16, if you want to look it up, nr. 43 in Sveriges Medeltida Ballader), which originates as a ballad from Catholic Sweden that illustrates Purgatory (I think) - in its origin, it's explicitly about Mary Magdalen, who encounters Jesus, who knows her sin (that she has birthed three children, two with a father - in other words, a married man - and one with his brother), and he condemns her to seven years wandering the forest, sleeping on hard mountains, drinking only the dew and eating only the bitter shoots of birch trees, and with only bears and lions for company. On the eighth year, she walks to church (!) and encounters her Saviour ('sin frälseman') again, who asks her how she found her drink, food, bedding and company, respectively, where she responds positively to all of them, and Christ grants her a spot in Heaven on account of her noble bearing of her righteous punishment; end of ballad.

Of course, there is no indication that the men who slept with her and shared her sin are ever punished.

A later version from the early 19th century, in what seems like a competition over the years in who can most emphasise the depths of her (and her alone, obviously) sin, is way more grim. In this version, she (it is no longer clear that it is Mary Magdalene, just a woman called Magdalena) makes it clear that she has had two children, one with her own brother and one with her father, which she has drowned in blackest river and reddest sea, for which reason he completely refuses her touch (she is apparently so sullied by her being the victim of the worst kind of abuse that the Redeemer won't touch her). She is condemned once again to wandering the forest for seven years with only dew to drink and birch to eat and moss to sleep on, which she endures, after which she once again meets Christ, who asks her how she found her punishment. She responds that the dew was as though she was drinking angels wine, the moss was as bedding of clearest silk, and you get the idea. Jesus grands her leave to ascend into heaven 'because of her strong faith', which is clearly a nonsensical tacking on of Lutheran doctrine onto what is clearly a Catholic song - it's not her faith, but her suffering, which actually redeems her.

I might sing it at some point, I really like the tune.