34- Allison Gross
34- Allison Gross (Ballad)
The ugliest witch in the north country.
You know its bad when they write a freaking ballad over it.
Allison Gross is a traditional ballad from England and Scotland. The song tells the tale of a hideous witch who attempts to coerce a man into becoming her lover. She combs his hair and tries to persuade him by offering him extravagant gifts and treasures, all of which he refuses. As a last resort, she turns him into a wyrm, a kind of dragon, and chains him to a tree. Finally, at Halloween, the Fairy Queen passes him by and reverses the witch’s spell.
The motifs of the ballad illustrate the witch stereotype/archetype we’ve seen in the likes of Grandmama Addams (#44) and Madam Mim (#42). Allison Gross is the traditional hag, hideous and grotesque. She tries to bribe and coerce the man into being her lover, offering him trinkets and luxurious items. As more of a satanic figure, she’s scheming and manipulative, offering gold and beauty in exchange for forced-love and servitude. While certainly not the seductive/vixen type, she nevertheless conveys the fear of feminine power, eroticism, and the manipulation of men.
The isolated and lonely Allison Gross is juxtaposed with the bright and beautiful Fairy Queen. After being turned into a dragon and tethered to a tree, the young man of the tale is released when the Queen and her large fairy court come passing by. While both perform magic using motions repeated three times, Allison does this in an effort to cast the spell while the Fairy Queen does it to unwind the magic. The supernatural magic of the Fairies is seen as stronger than the mortal magic of the witch.
The ballad as a whole reverses the typical Fairy Tale, as the man in the story is the one who needs to be rescued. On the one hand, he has been manipulated and seduced, and on the other, he needs a stronger woman to come and save him. The two women are opposites, one beautiful and one hideous, and yet each remain stronger than the man. Allison Gross embodies the powerful hag who manipulates and enslaves—the Fairy Queen (in a reversal of much of fairy lore) embodies the classic “knight in shining armor”, coming to the aid of the damsel-in-distress.
I sympathize with the lonely and ugly Allison Gross. Sometimes we all feel like sitting alone with our pets and combing their hair. Let the girl pet her dragon, Fairy Queen, jeez.
