Maiden Pined by Derry's Walls, A

DESCRIPTION: A maiden starving in Derry tells "her 'Prentice Boy lover" not to weep for her: live free or die "not like a popish slave." The message is repeated in Derry by a young wife and mother to her husband, and by a widowed mother to her son.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1987 (Smyth/Bush/Long-OrangeLark)
KEYWORDS: battle death starvation Ireland patriotic husband lover mother wife
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Smyth/Bush/Long-OrangeLark 32, "A Maiden Pined by Derry's Walls" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Slave" (tune, according to Smyth/Bush/Long-OrangeLark)
NOTES [53 words]: See "No Surrender (I)" and references there for information about the 1688-1689 Seige of Derry. - BS
Also "The Shutting of the Gates of Derry." It's perhaps worth noting, in light of the girl addressing her "'Prentice Boy." that it was the apprentices of the town who were first credited with closing Derry's gates. - RBW
File: PrLa032

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