The original composed ballad, "The Silver Dagger" has not been found. However it was collected in 1838 and a collected version from southern Indiana was published in 1849 and 1850 in New York and Vermont. The ballad has rarely been found in tradition in the Northeast or Canada. The print version would be circa 1810 and maybe as late as 1820. It begins:
The Silver Dagger
Young men and maidens pray lend attention, To these few lines I am about to write: It is as true as ever was mentioned Concerning a fair beauty bright. [1849 text]
The author uses one traditional stanza (7) and uses it again for half of 11:
7 Then out she pulled her Silver Dagger. And pierced it through her snow white breast; At first she reeled, and then she staggered, Saying, oh! my dear, I'm going to rest.
Compare this to Wehman's and two other traditional NY versions:
The 7th stanza, is found similarly in the only print version from 1890[7]:
So Katy drew that bloody dagger And pierced it through her lily-white breast; Saying, adieu to father, adieu to mother, Adieu sweet Willie, with thee I rest. [Wehman's 1890]
And then she plunged that bloody dagger Unto her lily-white breast, "Sing farewell, Father, Mother; Now we are both at rest. [Eleanor Franz of Dolgeville, NY before 1939]
Then Mary seized that blood-stained dagger And pierced it through her lily-white breast. Bid farewell to father and mother, "Farewell, farewell, we're now at rest." [George Edwards, NY pre1940s Cazden]
All retain the rhyme of "breast/rest" in lines 2 and 4 but the 1849 version adds dagger/stagger in lines 1 and 3, a typical broadside writer's invention.
Here's my point: Traditional versions in North America that have "silver dagger" in the text or the traditional stanza 7 are simply versions of Drowsy Sleeper- they are not versions of the composed "Silver Dagger." This has been confused by the Traditional Ballad Index and most collectors who often say, "the end is mixed with 'Silver Dagger.'"