Bold Soldier, The [Laws M27]

DESCRIPTION: A father threatens to kill his daughter because she loves a soldier. He settles for sending (seven) men to kill her lover. The soldier fights the brigands off. The frightened father is then negotiated into making the soldier his heir
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1679 (Roxburghe)
KEYWORDS: father children love soldier fight
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (37 citations):
Laws M27, "The Bold Soldier"
Bronson 7a, "The Lady and the Dragoon" (24 versions)
Barry/Eckstorm/Smyth-BritishBalladsFromMaine pp. 377-382, "The Soldier's Wooing" (3 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #6}
Flanders/Brown-VermontFolkSongsAndBallads, pp. 232-233, "The Poor Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #14}
Flanders-AncientBalladsTraditionallySungInNewEngland1, pp. 131-149, "The Bold Soldier" (7 texts plus a fragment, 5 tunes) {C= Bronson's #18, F=#14}
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 103-104, "The Soldier's Wooing" (1 text)
Randolph 70, "The Valiant Soldier" (4 texts, 3 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 88-90, "The Valiant Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 70A)
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 3, "Earl Brand" (3 texts, 1 tune, but all clearly this piece) {Bronson's #3}
Musick-JAF-TheOldAlbumOf-William-A-Larkin 10, "A Soldier of Late" (1 text)
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 46, "The Bold Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thompson-BodyBootsAndBritches-NewYorkStateFolktales, pp. 397-399, "Bold Soldier" (1 text)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 86, "The Soldier's Wooing" (4 texts)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 86, "The Soldier's Wooing" (3 excerpts, 3 tunes)
Chappell-FolkSongsOfRoanokeAndTheAlbermarle 50, "The Lady and the Dragon" (sic.) (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune) {Bronson's #4}
Davis-TraditionalBalladsOfVirginia [4], "[Earl Brand]" (1 text, filed as an appendix to that ballad)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 78, "Lady Flower" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-ASongCatcherInSouthernMountains, pp. 201-202, "The Lady and the Dragoon" (1 text, with local title "A Brave Soldier"; 1 tune on pp. 409-410) {Bronson's #16}
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 5, "Erlinton" (1 text, called "The Soldier's Wooing" by the informant)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 51, "The Lady and the Dragoon" (4 texts plus 4 fragments, 8 tunes) {Bronson's #19, #8, #21, #23, #20, #24, #22, #17}
Sharp/Karpeles-EightyEnglishFolkSongs 30, "The Lady and the Dragoon" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version) {Bronson's #23}
Karpeles-TheCrystalSpring 6, "The Dragoon and the Lady" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #13}
Gentry/Smith-ASingerAmongSingers, #24, "The Lady and the Dragoon" (1 fragment, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Warner-TraditionalAmericanFolkSongsFromAnneAndFrankWarnerColl 55, "Only a Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol1, pp 47-48, "Little Soldier Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Copper-SongsAndSouthernBreezes, pp. 248-249, "The Bold Dragoon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, pp. 115-116, "The Bold Dragoon" (1 text) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Bk 15)
Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle 11, "The Bold Dragoon" (1 text)
Creighton-SongsAndBalladsFromNovaScotia 12, "Song of a Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #15}
Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast 32, "The Soldier and the Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pound-AmericanBalladsAndSongs, 27, pp. 68-69, "The Soldier" (1 text)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 117, "The Soldier's Wooing" (1 text)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 116-117, "The Valiant Soldier" (1 text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 169, "The Bold Soldier" (1 text)
DT, (DOUGTRD4*)
ADDITIONAL: John Ashton, _A Century of Ballads_, Elliot Stock, London, 1887; reprinted 1968 by Singing Tree Press, pp. 164-167, "The Master piece of Love Songs" (1 text)
Robert E. Gard and L. G. Sorden, _Wisconsin Lore: Antics and Anecdotes of Wisconsin People and Places_, Wisconsin House, 1962, pp. 108-109, "The Raftsman" (1 text, presumably from Wisconsin although no source is listed; in this the soldier becomes a raftsman but the plot is the same)
Roud #321
RECORDINGS:
Harry Brazil, "Bold Keeper" (on Voice18)
Pete Seeger, "The Valiant Soldier" (on PeteSeeger29)
Cas Wallin, "Little Soldier" (on OldTrad1, FarMtns4)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2237), "The Bold Dragoon" ("My father is a lord, a lord of high renown"), H. Such (London), 1863-1885; also Firth c.14(210, "The Bold Dragoon"; Harding B 22(320), "The Valiant Dragoon"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Earl Brand" [Child 7]
cf. "Erlinton" [Child 8]
NOTES [73 words]: It will be observed that Bronson lists this as an appendix to Child 7, "Earl Brand," though he notes the obvious signs of broadside publication. Laws mentions that others have connected it to Child 7 (and Child 8, "Erlinton," which is where Barry et al file it), but does not seem himself to consider the two related. Neither does he mention Bronson's title, "The Lady and the Dragoon." Cazden connects it with Child 214 and/or 215. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: LM27

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