“The Twa Magicians”, “The Two Magicians”, “The Lady and the Blacksmith”, or “The Coal Black Smith” (Roud 1350, Child 44) is a British folk song. It first appears in print in 1828 in two sources, Peter Buchan’s Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland and John Wilson’s Noctes Ambrosianae No. 40. It was later published as number 44 of Francis Child’s English and Scottish Popyular Ballads. During the 20th century, versions of it have been recorded by a number of folk musicians.
A blacksmith threatens to deflower a lady, who vows to keep herself a maiden. A transformation chase ensues, differing in several variants, but containing such things as she becomes a hare, and he catches her as greyhound, she became a duck and he became either a water dog or a drake. In the Child version of the ballad she does not escape, but in other common renderings, she does.
In ballads, the man chasing the woman appears more often in conversation that in fact, when a woman says she will flee, and the man retorts he will chase her, through a variety of forms; these tales are often graceful teasing.
Child regarded it as derived from one of two fairy tale or folktale forms. These forms are to be found in the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index (ATU Index) which is a catalogue of such folktale types used in folklore studies. The ATU Index is the product of a series of revisions and expansions by an international group of scholars: Originally composed in German by Finnish folklorist Antii Aarne (1910); the index was translated into English, revised, and expanded by American folklorist Stith Thompson (1928, 1961); and later further revised and expanded by German folklorist Hans-Jorg Uther (2004).
In The Folktale, Thompson defines a tale type as follows: A type is a traditional tale that has an independent existence. It may be told as a complete narrative and does not depend for its meaning on any other tale. It may indeed happen to be told with another tale, but the fact that it may be told alone attests its independence. It may consist of only one motif or of many.
In the first, a young man and woman flee an enemy by taking on new forms. This type is Aarne-Thompson type 313, the girl helps the hero flee; instances of it include “Jean the soldier and Eulalie”, “The Foundling Bird”, and “The Two Kings’ Children”. In the second, a young man, studying with a sorcerer, flees his master by taking on new forms, which his master counters by equivalent forms. This is Aarne-Thompson type 325, the magician and his pupil; instances include “The Thief and his Master”, “Farmer Weathersky”, and “Maestro Lattantio and his Apprentice Dionigi”.
The Roud Folksong Index lists 33 examples. though some are duplicates. Apart from earlier Scottish versions there are eight versions collected in the 20th and 21st centuries, five from England, three from Scotland, and one from Kentucky. The earliest was collected by Cecil Sharp in 1905. The song has been recorded (generally under the name “The Two Magicians”) by a number of traditional folk artists, including Ewan MacColl, Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick, as well as folk rock artists such as Steeleye Span, Pentangle and Bellowhead. It is also popular among neofolk artists, and has been recorded by Current 93 (under the name “Oh Coal Black Smith”).
