Referenced By / Child Ballads

• Part of the list of Impossible Tasks set by the singers in "The Elfin Knight" (#2) is used in Simon & Garfunkel's song "Scarborough Fair". In the Ballad, the first of the speakers demands the shirt; the second responds by saying that the first must complete the plowing/seeding/harvesting task, then he'll get his shirt. In Simon and Garfunkel's version, both demands are levied on the same person.
  • The Ballad version:
  Ask him to find me an acre of land
  Between the salt water and the sea-strand,
  Plough it with a lamb's horn,
  Sow it all over with one peppercorn,
  Reap it with a sickle of leather,
  And gather it up with a rope made of heather
  
  • "Scarborough Fair" version::
  Tell her to find me an acre of land
  Between the salt water and the sea strand
  Tell her to reap it in a sickle of leather
  And to gather it all in a bunch of heather
  Then she'll be a true love of mine

• In The Last Unicorn, Robin Hood wannabe Captain Cully thinks that Schmendrick is Child in disguise, there to record their story.

• Ween would go onto cover The Unquiet Grave on their album The Mollusk under the title Cold Blows The Wind.

• Gunslinger Girl. In the anime episode "A Day in The Life of Claes", Claes is holding a book on "The Elfin Knight" and other ballads, and the song "Scarborough Fair" features prominently.