The Soldier's Wooing- Mrs. Thomas M. Bryant, of Evansville, Indiana. Vanderburg County. November 22, 1935.
[Brewster from Ballads and Songs of Indiana, where he lists this under Child 8 Erlinton. The title (based on Eddy's) is not local and was supplied by Brewster.
R. Matteson 2014]
ERLINTON (Child, No. 8)
The happy ending of this variant indicates its derivation from "Erlinton" rather than from "Earl Brand," although there are certain resemblances to the latter. No mention is made of the imprisonment of the heroine or of the strict watch kept over her, but the meeting between the lovers and her father and the twenty well-armed men would seem to indicate that the latter group had been searching for the pair.
For American texts, see Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, p. 377 (three variants, a fragment, and one melody); Davis, p. 92 (one variant given in an appendix to "Earl Brand"); Scarborough, Song Catcher, p. 201; JFSS, I, 108-9; Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands, p. 185; Creighton, Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia, p. 25.
"The Soldier's Wooing." Contributed by Mrs. Thomas M. Bryant, of Evansville, Indiana. Vanderburg County. November 22, 1935.
1. I'll tell you of a soldier that lately came from sea,
As bold a young fellow as ever you did see.
His fortune was so great it scarcely could be told;
The lady loved the soldier because he was so bold.
2. He took her to church; on returning home again,
They met her old father and twenty well-armed men;
Up steps the old man and unto her did say:
"Is this you, my daughter, and is this your wedding day?"
3. Up steps the soldier as bold as he could be,
Saying, "This is your daughter, and this her wedding day."
He drew his sword and pistol, which caused them to rattle;
The lady held the horses while the soldier fought the battle.
4. The first one he came to he stuck him through the mane;[1]
The next one he came to he served him the same.
"Let's run!" says the rest; "I fear that we'll be slain;
To fight this bold soldier I find it all in vain."
5. "Spare my life!" says the old man; "You make my blood run
cold; You can have my daughter and ten thousand pounds in
gold." "Fight on!" says the lady, "This portion is too small;
If you will kill the old man, then we will have it all."
6. "Spare my life," says the old man, "and you can have it all ;
My daughter and my fortune, let it be great or small."
He took the soldier home; he made him his heir;
It wasn't because he loved him, but it was because of fear.
7. O despise not a soldier because he is poor;
He's as happy in the wildwood as at the bar-room door.
He's haughty and he's gay; he's brisk and he's free;
He'll fight for his truelove as well as liberty.
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1. Brewster: Probably a corruption of wame, a Scottish and Northern England form of womb, here meaning belly. NED, X, 60: "He's in bed this hour past with a spoonful of peppermint in his little wame"—Stevenson, St. Ives, xxxvi (1898), 810. [I've concluded that this and others adaptations are corruptions of "amain" as in "stuck him through amain."]