If you listen to murder ballads for very long, you'll notice that there are some that are drawn from poetry, literature, drama as well as real events. Some of the folkloric murder ballads have epic stories absolutely fit for literary or cinematic dramatization. A violin made from the ribcage of a murder victim that names it's killer when it plays? That's some quality storytelling right there. So in this episode we explore those songs from literature and their epic folk companions.