Trooper and the Tailor, The

DESCRIPTION: The trooper is away on duty, so his wife goes to bed with the tailor. When their business is done, they go to sleep. When the trooper shows up, the tailor hides in a cabinet. The chilly trooper wants to burn the cabinet, and finds the hidden tailor.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1889
KEYWORDS: infidelity husband wife soldier humorous hiding
FOUND IN: US(MA) Britain(England(South,Lond),Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 139, "The Trooper and the Tailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig/Duncan7 1463, "The Bold Trooper" (4 texts, 3 tunes)
Copper-SongsAndSouthernBreezes, pp. 270-271, "The Trooper" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 200, "The Game-Cock" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-EnglishCountrySongbook, #105, "The Groggy Old Tailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Purslow-MarrowBones, p. 6, "The Bold Trooper" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-FolksongsSungInUlster 45, "The Wee Croppy Tailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton/Maguire-ComeDayGoDayGodSendSunday 50, pp. 144-145,174-175, "The Wee Croppy Tailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 243-248, "The Bold Trooper" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast 116, "Tiddy, the Tailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dallas-TheCruelWars-100SoldiersSongs, pp. 96-97, "The Bold Trooper" (1 text, 1 tune)
Grigson-PenguinBookOfBallads 86, "The Bold Trooper" (1 text)
DT, TRPRTAIL*
Roud #311
RECORDINGS:
Charlie Chettleburgh, "Game-Cock" (on FSBFTX19)
Nora Cleary, "The Bold Trooper" (on Voice06)
Harry Cox, "The Groggy Old Tailor" (on HCox01)
Joshua Osborne, "The Bold Trooper" (on PeacockCDROM) [one verse only]
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.17(414), "Tailor and Trooper," unknown, n.d.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Boatsman and the Chest" [Laws Q8] (plot) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Cropped Tailor
NOTES [111 words]: This and similar songs are sometimes traced back to a story in Boccaccio (seventh day, second story: Gianella, Peronella, and her husband). But the story is really one of the basic themes of folktale, and doubtless predates Boccaccio as well as these songs. - RBW
The Morton-FolksongsSungInUlster text ends when the trooper "caught hold of the tailor just by the two ears, And he clean cut them off with his own little shears...." That explains that text's title: "The Wee Croppy Tailor." Notes to IRClare01 give as one of the explanations of the politically charged term "Croppy," "the practice of punishing convicted felons by cutting off the tops of their ears." - BS
Last updated in version 6.8
File: FSC139

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography