"It reminds me of the 'Demon Lover' "

That had occurred to me. I suppose it's a story that has always happened from time to time (and still does), and people imagine how it might end up in different ways, either by making up different songs, or by adjusting and interpeting existing songs in different ways.

Threre's an echo of the Wraggle Taggle Gypsies family of songs too - both in the situation and even in the text -

John, her husband, he mounted on his high horse back,
He rode until he came to the water.

It's like a kind of sequel, but with the Gypsy turned to a Soldier, and imagined as a brute.