 In 1964, Richard Hosley suggested the main source for the play may have been the anonymous ballad "A merry jeste of a shrewde and curst Wyfe, lapped in Morrelles Skin, for her good behauyour".The ballad tells the story of a marriage in which the husband must tame his headstrong wife.Like "Shrew", the story features a family with two sisters, the younger of whom is seen as mild and desirable.