Bloody Weapon- Mrs. Hellums (MS) 1926 Hudson B
[My title. From: Ballads and Songs from Mississippi- Arthur Palmer Hudson; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 39, No. 152 (Apr. - Jun., 1926), pp. 93-194. Hudson collected six version of the "composed Silver Dagger" of which he published three. He reprinted the A version in Folksongs of Mississippi in 1936. His notes follow.
The version of composed version (not the original which is still missing) was published in 1849 in a NY publication.
R. Matteson 2016]
B. [Bloody Weapon] No local title. Communicated by Mr. T. A. Bickerstaff, who obtained it from his sister, Mrs. Aubrey L. Hellums, Tishomingo, Mississippi.
1. Boys and girls, pray lend attention
To these few lines I'm going to say,
For they're as true as e'er was spoken,
By a lady young and gay.
2. She was courted by a noble young Frenchman,
In whom she took delight;
He oft times did reprove and tell her
That he'd make her his lovely bride.
3. When his old parents came to know this,
To break it up they both did strive,
Saying, "Oh, son, don't be so foolish,
For she's too poor!" they often cried.
4. When this young lady came to know this
She roamed the fields and meadows wide,
And for her death she had prepared
A golden dagger by her side.
5. When this young lady came to know this
She roamed the fields and meadows round
Until she came to the broad, broad ocean,
A pleasant place where she sat down.
6. She drew out the dealy[1] weapon,
And pierced it through her snow-white breast,
And then began to reel and stagger:
"Farewell, vain world, I'm going to rest!"
7. Her true love, being on the ocean,
Perchance he heard her dying moans,
And there he went like one destructed:
"I'm ruined, I'm lost, I'm left alone!"
8. He picked up the dying body
And rolled it over in his arms,
Saying, "Is there a doctor that can cure you,
Or must you die in a true-love's arms?"
9. She turned her eyes up toward him,
Saying, "True love, true you are too late;
Prepare to meet me on Mount Zion,
Where all our joys will be complete."
10. He picked up the bloody weapon
And pierced it through his tender heart,
Saying, "I hope this will be a sad, sad warning
To those who keep true-loves apart."
1. deadly