"Box Upon Her Head"? Interesting title. As Masato says above, it's Maid and the Robber in the Digital Tradition. The DT lyrics are almost exactly what you'll find in the Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection. As far as I can tell, the entry at Bruce Olson's site is just an index entry, no lyrics. The only songbook lyrics I could find were the ones in Greig-Duncan. Anybody willing to transcribe the broadsides?
Here's the "Undaunted Female" entry from the Traditional Ballad Index.
-Joe Offer-Undaunted Female, The (The Box Upon Her Head; The Staffordshire Maid; The Maid and the Robber) [Laws L3]
DESCRIPTION: A servant girl sets out for home to help her father. She meets a robber and kills him. She meets another stranger who returns with her to the body. They find a whistle which summons more robbers. Girl and stranger dispose of them and agree to marry
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: outlaw marriage
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar) Britain(England)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Laws L3, "The Undaunted Female"
BBI (Bruce Olson's Broadside Ballad Index), ZN514, "Come all ye young gallants and listen a while" (?)
DT 419, MAIDROBR
File: LL03Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index InstructionsThe Ballad Index Copyright 2002 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.