A study examined changes in recall of a ballad that is part of an oral tradition in North Carolina, noting what changes occur, why those changes occur, and what lines are most susceptible to change. When a story is passed along orally, it sometimes changes so much that it may not be recognizable as the same when two versions are compared. Subjects included five traditional ballad singers, whose performances on different occasions were analyzed to determine changes in recall and changes among individual singers. Recall stability over a generation was examined by comparing the current versions with versions collected between 1912 and 1944. The recall of a naive group, 27 undergraduates who learned and recalled one version of the ballad, was also assessed. Results show that constraints present in this ballad limit the possible variations that can occur. Any variations must preserve at least the verse structure, the verse sequence, the line sequence within each verse, the rhyme scheme, and the metrical pattern. Verses that embellish the details of the story may be omitted. Constraints were preserved in versions of the ballad collected in the 70 years and to some degree by undergraduates hearing the ballad for the first time. (ARH)