Silver Dagger-Ethel Doxey (AR) 1904 Belden A1
[My title. From: Ballads and Songs, 1940- Belden. His notes follow. This is the first version A1 of the composed ballad. Belden only gives two texts from A-F and the music from the Case version (F) which was printed in the JAF.
B. 'The Silver Dagger.' Secured by C. H. Williams in 1906 from Mary Cross, who found it in Ralls County. An incomplete text, lacking stanzas 4, 8, 9, 10, and 11 of A.
C. 'The Silver Dagger.' From the manuscript ballad book of Ada Belle Cowden' eompiled about 1909 and secured for me by Miss Laws of Christian College. Miss Cowden lived at Woodlandville, Boone county. Lacks stanza 4 of A and has telescoped stanzas 2 and 3 into one stanza.
E. No title. Secured by Miss Hamilton in 1912 from Agnes Shibley of the Kirksville Teachers College. The latter part of the song only, beginning 'She wandered fields and meadows over.'
F. 'The Silver Dagger.' Contributed in 1916 by Mrs. Case, who knew it in her childhood in Harrison County. Text corresponds to A except that it lacks stanza 4 of that text. Printed in JAFL XXX 362-3.
Compare to the 1849 print version ostensibly taken from tradition (Sal Jenkins of Indiana).
R. Matteson 2016]
The Silver Dagger
"Altho from its style and content this seems clearly to be a product of the professional ballad-maker, I know of no ballad print of it either British or American (except No.518 in 'Wehman's series of ballad prints, where it is combined with The Drowsy Sleeper); it is recorded only from traditional singing, and that only from the South and the West. That its conclusion has been incorporated in texts of Bedroom Window has already been noted."
A1. [Silver Dagger] No title given. Secured by Miss Gertrude Simmons in 1904 from Ethel Doxey of
Carroll County, Arkansas.
Come all young maidens, pay attention
To these few lines I'm going to write;
They are as true as ever was mentioned,
Concerning a youth and a beautiful bride.
He courted her to be her lover;
He loved her as he loved his life.
He ofttimes vowed that he would make her
His lawful and his wedded wife.
And when his parents came to know this
They strove to part them day and night,
Saying, 'Son, oh son, don't you have her,
For she's a poor girl,' they ofttimes say.
Down on his bended knees a-pleading,
Crying, 'Father, father, pity me!
She is my own, my own dear jewel;
What's this world without her to me?'
She rambled, down the clear flowing river,
And there she did its death prepare,
Saying, 'Here I land my youthful warning.
Must I sink in deep despair?'
And out she drew her silver dagger,
She pierced through her lily-white breast;
Forth she reeled and then she staggered,
Crying, 'True love, I'm going to rest.'
Her lover being near where he could hear her
And knowing well her female voice,
He ran, he ran like one distracted,
Crying, 'True love, I fear you're lost!'
And up he picked this bloody body,
He rolled it o'er within his arms,
Saying, 'Now no gold nor friends can save you.
Must you die, and all your charms?'
Her coal-black eyes like stars she opened,
Cryin', 'True love, you have come too late;
Prepare to meet me on Mount Zion,
Where all our joys will be complete.'
And when this maiden came to know
She soon resign[1] what she would do;
She rambled forth and left the city
No more her loving groms[2] to view.
And, up he picked this bloody weapon,
He pierced it through his own tender heart,
Saying, 'Let this be a woeful warning
To all true lovers who has to part !'
1. Lines 2 and,4 of this stanza seem corrupt. For line 2 other texts have:
B She wondered quick what she might do
C She quickly resolved what she would do
F G She soon resolved what she would do and for line 4:
B No more its pleasant scenes to view
C No more would its pleasures glow to you
F In the pleasant groves no more to roam
G No more its pleasures she would view
The stanza does not occur in D and E, which are incomplete texts.
2. arms