The Mistletoe Bough

“The Mistletoe Bough” limited edition, hand embellished lino print by Lizzie Ault

For sales enquiries contact Babylon Gallery.

Our scene is set at a midwinter wedding, many years ago at Brockdish Hall, near Dis in Norfolk. After the ceremony and once all the guests had dined, the Bride, wanting some time alone with her new husband, challenged her groom to a game of hide and seek. He accepted and she, grabbing a bough of mistletoe so that she might invite a kiss from her beloved, ran off to hide. Once the allotted hiding time had elapsed the groom searched the hall from top to bottom and even asked for the help of the guests but they could not find her anywhere. She had vanished without a trace.

“They sought her that night and they sought her next day,
And they sought her in vain while a week passed away.”

Around a hundred or so years later, when clearing out a storage room at the back of the house a trunk was found. Inside the locked trunk they found a skeleton, in a wedding dress still clutching a bough of mistletoe in her hand. The bride had obviously become locked in the box while waiting for her beloved to find her and had perished alone in the locked box.

“Oh sad was her fate -  in sportive jest
She hid from her lord in the old oak chest.
It closed with a spring - and dreadful doom,
The bride lay clasped in a living tomb.
Oh the mistletoe bough
Oh the mistletoe bough.”

This story became a well known ballad of the same name which has been sung all over the UK as well as the USA. The story is also attributed to other stately homes in the country as well as Brockdish Hall but I’m sure the original location truly was Norfolk. 

I read this story in Norfolk Folk tales by Hugh Lupton, published by the History Press.

If you are interested in purchasing one of the limited edition prints please contact Babylon Gallery directly.