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Soldiers Horse [The Trooper and the Maid] Child 299

There are many songs on the subject of maids being seduced by sailors and soldiers. In this ballad she is willing to go to bed with him because she believes he will marry her. Sadly, his interest in her lasts only a couple of hours. She asks him when they can get married and he answers her most cruely, "when corn shells turn to silver bells." Every time I sing this part I hope his callousness would cause her to dump him. But in those days society was very harsh upon unmarried mothers and bastard children. Many young maidens in ballads resort to suicide or infanticide when faced with this unbearable situation. Quite different from Pacific Island communities where a maid's value is doubled with each child she has before marriage; as proof of her womanliness and fertility.
I have heard this sang with a jaunty rhythm, conveying a sense of sporting fun, but this particular version, learned from Bob Ratliff, and C.C. Lum, of the Chappell collection, accentuates the real tragedy of the situation.

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from Green Are The Woods, released June 13, 1999
Learned from C.C. Lum, L. W. Chappell Collection 1939

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Helena Triplett Faust Wellington, New Zealand

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