Widow of Westmoreland's Daughter, The

DESCRIPTION: The widow's daughter reports losing her maidenhead to a grenadier guard. The mother wants it back; the guard invites the girl to his wedding. The bride asks about her; she proves to have slept with another man. The guard marries the daughter instead
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Widow prays her daughter might keep her maidenhead, but the daughter comes back having lost it to a Grenadier guard. The mother scolds; the daughter returns to the Grenadier, demanding her maidenhead back. The Grenadier obliges her by "put[ting] her head where her feet was before," then invites her to his wedding; the girl runs back to her mother and tells the story, saying she's a maiden again. The mother, not pleased, goes to the wedding with the daughter; the bride asks who it might be. The Grenadier replies that it must be the widow's daughter who ran home and told; the bride says she'd never do that; she lay with a man for 11 nights and never told anyone. The Grenadier at this point dumps the bride in favor of the widow's daughter "who ran home and told her mummy"
KEYWORDS: sex wedding humorous bawdy mother trick virginity wife
FOUND IN: Britain(England,Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Kinloch-TheBalladBook I, pp. 1-3, "The Widow o' Westmoreland" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan7 1439, "A Lady Lived on the Muirland Hills" (1 text)
Lyle-Andrew-CrawfurdsCollectionVolume1 76, "The Widow's Dochter" (1 text)
Lyle-Andrew-CrawfurdsCollectionVolume2 105, "The Widow's Dochter" (1 text)
DT, WIDWSTMO
Roud #228
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "The Widow of Westmoreland's Daughter" (on Lloyd01); "Widow of Westmorland's Daughter (on BirdBush1, BirdBush2) (Lloyd3)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Country Girl (The Fair Maid of the West" (theme of regaining maidenhead)
cf. "The Tailor" (theme of regaining maidenhead)
NOTES [31 words]: Lloyd notes that the song, never printed as of the time of recording [not quite true; Kinloch printed it in 1827 - RBW], had been offered to F. J. Child but was rejected for indecency. - PJS
Last updated in version 2.6
File: DTwidwst

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