“<span class="mu-s">THE TRAGICAL BALLAD
<span class="mu-i">Or, The LADY who fell in Love with a STRANGER</span>

Part I.</span>

<span class="mu-i">GOOD people pray attend,
Unto these lines I’ve penn’d,
Which to the world I send.
Therefore draw near,
And hear what I do say,
Alack-and-well-a-day,
Unto love’s sad decay,
Prov’d most severe.

There was a Strange-man,
Who hid in a strand,
As I do understand.
In spite of his plight,
He was still passing fair;
So this young lady bright,
Could not rest day or night,
He was her soul’s delight.

Now this young lady cry’d:
“I can’t be satisfy’d,
I wish I was his bride,
To cure my smart.
The Moon bend her bow,
And wound my lover so,
That in short time he’ll know
A lovesick heart!”

“Why can he not be Clean?
To keep me in misery?
How could <span class="mu-s"><span class="mu-r">He</span></span> be so mean?
There must be a mistake!
I wish he was safe,
So love would not chafe,
And Moon with arrow strafe,
Our virgin hearts together.”

Then the young lady said,
“Why should I be afraid?
I’ll bring my servant maid,
To tell my mind.”
“Julia, Julia” said she,
“Pray come you here to me?
You must my council be,
Then I’ll prove kind.”

“I love that Strange – man,
He who was merchant Hiram,
Let me say what I can,
He is the one for me!
Love has ensar’d my heart,
As I do feel the smart,
The Moon with her keen dart
Has grievously wounded me.”

Then said that damsel fair,
“Madam, a dark deed you declare.
Your mind I can’t forbear,
But let you know,
You must be in the same case,
Mad to love that damned face,
With heart, heavy in breast,
I must now call for your arrest.”

In sorrow, discontent
Away doomed damsel went,
Heavy heart with blade soon rent,
By her loving lady’s hand!
The lady’s Soul now blackened,
To lust she harkened,
Mad with love for the knave,
No longer can she be saved!” </span>

- Excerpt from the Tragical Ballad, a broadside written and distributed by the Inquisition in the first years after the Strangeness appeared. Out of the many broadsides put out in this period, this one is unique as it focuses on the dangers presented by ‘clean’ individuals who would shelter Strangers. It is also unique in that after a short but successful run, it was actually pulled out of circulation by the Inquisition and marked for suppression by the Iconoclasts, for repeated references to the Moon. Before the ascendancy of the Priests in the Empire, the Moon was worshiped as Luna, a horned and battle-scarred goddess, whose arrows would cause love or madness on their targets. While worship of Luna had been stamped out for hundreds of years by the time the broadside was written, the concept of lovers and madmen being struck by the Moon had not, much to the chagrin of religious authorities. While it is unclear why the Inquisition would distribute something that the Iconoclasts would deem as objectionable, it is possible that the intent was to imply a connection between someone who would harbor a Stranger and someone who would allude to Luna.