The King and the Beggar-maid
Painting / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The King and the Beggar-maid" is a 16th-century broadside ballad[1] that tells of an African king, Cophetua, and his love for the beggar Penelophon (Shakespearean Zenelophon). Artists and writers have referenced the story, and King Cophetua has become a byword for "a man who falls in love with a woman instantly and proposes marriage immediately".[2]