English translation: The Rejected Maiden. The song is based on the real event of the drowning in the River Dee of Jane Williams from Cynwyd, near Corwen in Merionethshire (present day Denbighshire), in July 1868, although the cause of death described in the song (suicide) is speculation; the coroner's inquest having only concluded that she was "found drowned with no evidence of violence". The song describes the girl's desolation after being spurned by her lover and then by her family (for being a fallen woman). The writer is unknown.