Trooper and Maid [Child 299]

DESCRIPTION: A trooper comes to a girl's door and convinces her to sleep with him. In the morning he is called to the colors; she follows and begs him to return or let her come with him. He will not let her come and will not promise to return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1828 (Buchan)
KEYWORDS: courting soldier abandonment
FOUND IN: Britain(England(West,South),Scotland(Aber,Bord,High)) Ireland Canada US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So)
REFERENCES (26 citations):
Child 299, "Trooper and Maid" (4 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3}
Bronson 299, "Trooper and Maid" (27 versions)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads 299, "Trooper and Maid" (4 versions: #3, #12,#13, #17)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 45, "The Trooper and the Maid" (3 short texts, 3 tunes) {Bronson's #11, #12, #10}
Barry/Eckstorm/Smyth-BritishBalladsFromMaine pp. 371-373, "The Trooper and the Maid" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #14}
Randolph 41, "A Soldier Rode From the East to the West" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #8}
Randolph/Legman-RollMeInYourArms I, pp. 209-212, "A Soldier Rode" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Davis-TraditionalBalladsOfVirginia 51, "Trooper and Maid" (2 texts, 1 tune entitled "The Trooper and Maid") {Bronson's #16}
Davis-MoreTraditionalBalladsOfVirginia 46, pp. 356-360, "Trooper and Maid" (1 fragment, probably this but short enough that it might be something else)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 49, "Trooper and Maid" (1 text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 49, "Trooper and Maid" (1 fragment plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 60, "The Soldier's Farewell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 27, "Trooper and Maid" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #9}
Gainer-FolkSongsFromTheWestVirginiaHills, pp. 102-103, "The Soldier and the Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-TheBalladBook, pp. 684-686, "The Trooper and Maid" (1 text)
Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle 10, "A Bold Dragoon" (1 text)
Purslow-TheConstantLovers, pp. 22-23, "The Dragoon and the Maid" (1 slightly composite text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 121, "As I Roved Out" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig/Duncan7 1470, "The Trooper and the Fair Maid" (5 texts, 3 tunes) {A=Bronson's #7, B=#2, C=#4}
Greig/Duncan8 1852, "I'm Nae Awa" (1 fragment)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, pp. 365-366, "The Trumpet Sounds at Burreldales; or, The Trooper and the Maid" (1 short text)
Porter/Gower-Jeannie-Robertson-EmergentSingerTransformativeVoice #61, p. 224-225, "Three 'Stralion Dragoons (Trooper and Maid, Child 299)" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #26}
Dallas-TheCruelWars-100SoldiersSongs, pp. 57-58, "The Trooper and the Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Niles-BalladBookOfJohnJacobNiles 65, "Trooper and Maid" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 161, "The Trooper And The Maid" (1 text)
DT 299, TROOPRMD (TROOPRM2*) LGHTDRAG
Roud #162
RECORDINGS:
Harry List, "The Light Drag'on" (on FSB02, FSB2CD)
Dillard Chandler, "The Soldier Traveling from the North" (on OldLove, DarkHoll)
Seamus Ennis, "As I Roved Out" (on FSB01) (on FSBFTX13)
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "The Trooper and the Maid" (on SCMacCollSeeger01) {the text is Bronson's #18, but the tune is different}
Jimmy McBeath, "The Trooper and the Maid" (on FSB5 [as "The Trooper Lad"], FSBBAL2) {Bronson's #17}
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I Love My Love (I) (As I Cam' Owre Yon High High Hill)" (lyrics)
cf. "Ung Sjoman Forlustar Sig, En (A Young Seaman Enjoys Himself)" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Trooper and the Maid
The Bugle Britches
The Bugle Boy
The Soldier and His Lady
The Soldier Travelling From the North
NOTES [220 words]: Randolph's are the first bawdy versions of the venerable ballad to see the light of print. - EC
Many versions of this have mixed with the "Seventeen Come Sunday" [Laws O17], the result may be known as "As I Roved Out" (so, e.g., the version in Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland), and you should probably check the references under both songs. It is often difficult to decide where to file such a piece (indeed, I managed to file the Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland text under both songs before finally deciding it belonged here). - RBW
Verse 3 of Child 299.B and verse 9 of Child 299.D is close to Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 180, "Wine and cakes for gentlemen" (earliest date in Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes is 1898)
Child 299.D: "Bread and cheese for gentlemen, An corn and hay for horses, Pipes and tobacco for auld wives, And bonnie lads for lasses." [For this see also Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #173, p. 127, ("Cheese and bread for gentlemen") -- though they describe it as "a fragment of a harvest song." The Opies say Crofton had a Welsh equivalent but do not give any additional information. - RBW]
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 180: "Wine and cakes for gentlemen, Hay and corn for horses, A cup of ale for good old wives, And kisses for young lasses." - BS
Last updated in version 5.3
File: C299

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