Chapter 7, The Hidden Land

Chapter 5, The Hidden Land

This is an indirect reference to a traditional ballad sometimes titled Jack Monroe (Roud 268, Laws N7, c. 1818) – Dean is most likely referencing the version recorded by Steeleye Span, based purely on the specific turns of phrases quoted by Ellen and her other references to Steeleye Span renditions of traditional ballads.

In this quote, Ellen is very deliberately paralleling the language used in stanzas 4 and 9.

There was a wealthy merchant, in London he did dwell. He had a beautiful daughter, the truth to you I’ll tell. She had sweethearts a-plenty and men of high degree But none but Jack the sailor her true love ere could be. Jack he’s gone a-sailing with trouble on his mind He’s left his king and his country and his darling girl behind. She went down to a tailor’s shop and dressed in men’s array She’s signed a bill of passage to convey herself away. Before you get on board, Sir, your name we’d like to know. She smiled all in her countenance, they call me Jack-A-Roe. I see your waist is slender, your fingers they are small. Cheeks too red and rosy to face the cannonball. I know my waist is slender, my fingers they are small, But it would not make me tremble to see ten thousands fall. The war soon being over she went and looked around, Among the dead and wounded her darling boy she found. She picked him up all in her arms and carried him to the town, She sent for a physician who quickly healed his wounds. This couple they got married, so well they did agree; This couple they got married so why not you and me?

The ballad itself tells the story of a young woman who crossdresses and follows her forbidden lover to war, saving him from his wounds. The parallel is apt for the characters / actual Lady Ruth and Prince Edward, who are ostensibly pining for each other in a forbidden manner.

Chapter 8, The Secret Country

This is likely just a more general reference to how fairy magic tends to be described in older tales, but I did find a line in a 1914 translation of the Norse myth of the binding of Fenris that specifically referenced using a handful of moonbeams as a magical ingredient:

Chapter 5, The Secret Country

Chapter 1, The Secret Country

Prologue, The Secret Country

Not a direct reference to anything, but Laura's use of the language "waiting for the worms to come" was quite probably influenced by lines linking worms and corpses in several Shakespeare plays, as well as other literary works.

"Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them," As You Like It, Act IV Scene I