Trooper and Maid [Child 299] DESCRIPTION: A trooper comes to a girl's door and convinces her to sleep with him. In the morning he is called to the colors; she follows and begs him to return or let her come with him. He will not let her come and will not promise to return AUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: 1828 (Buchan) KEYWORDS: courting soldier abandonment FOUND IN: Britain(England(West),Scotland(Aber,Bord,High)) Ireland Canada US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So) REFERENCES (15 citations): Child 299, "Trooper and Maid" (4 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3} Bronson 299, "Trooper and Maid" (27 versions) BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 371-373, "The Trooper and the Maid" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #14} Randolph 41, "A Soldier Rode From the East to the West" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #8} Randolph-Legman I, pp. 209-212, "A Soldier Rode" (2 texts, 1 tune) Davis-Ballads 51, "Trooper and Maid" (2 texts, 1 tune entitled "The Trooper and Maid") {Bronson's #16} Davis-More 46, pp. 356-360, "Trooper and Maid" (1 fragment, probably this but short enough that it might be something else) BrownII 49, "Trooper and Maid" (1 text) Brewster 27, "Trooper and Maid" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #9} Leach, pp. 684-686, "The Trooper and Maid" (1 text) Kennedy 121, "As I Roved Out" (1 text, 1 tune) Ord, pp. 365-366, "The Trumpet Sounds at Burreldales; or, The Trooper and the Maid" (1 short text) Niles 65, "Trooper and Maid" (2 texts, 2 tunes) Silber-FSWB, p. 161, "The Trooper And The Maid" (1 text) DT 299, TROOPRMD (TROOPRM2*) LGHTDRAG Roud #162 RECORDINGS: Harry List, "The Light Drag'on" (on FSB2, FSB2CD) Dillard Chandler, "The Soldier Traveling from the North" (on OldLove) Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "The Trooper and the Maid" (on SCMacCollSeeger01) {the text is Bronson's #18, but the tune is different} Jimmy McBeath, "The Trooper and the Maid" (on FSB5 [as "The Trooper Lad"], FSBBAL2) {Bronson's #17} CROSS-REFERENCES: cf. "I Love My Love (As I Cam' Owre Yon High High Hill)" (lyrics) ALTERNATE TITLES: The Trooper and the Maid The Bugle Britches The Bugle Boy The Soldier and His Lady The Soldier Travelling From the North Notes: Randolph's are the first bawdy versions of the venerable ballad to see the light of print. - EC Many versions of this have mixed with the "Seventeen Come Sunday" [Laws O17], the result may be known as "As I Roved Out" (so, e.g., the version in Kennedy), and you should probably check the references under both songs. It is often difficult to decide where to file such a piece (indeed, I managed to file the Kennedy text under both songs!). - RBW Verse 3 of Child 299.B and verse 9 of Child 299.D is close to Opie-Oxford2 180, "Wine and cakes for gentlemen" (earliest date in Opie-Oxford2 is 1898) Child 299.D: "Bread and cheese for gentlemen, An corn and hay for horses, Pipes and tobacco for auld wives, And bonnie lads for lasses." [For this see also Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #173, p. 127, ("Cheese and bread for gentlemen") -- though they describe it as "a fragment of a harvest song." - RBW] Opie-Oxford2 180: "Wine and cakes for gentlemen, Hay and corn for horses, A cup of ale for good old wives, And kisses for young lasses." - BS