[Honored Soldier] The Valiant Soldier- Hobes (Arkansas) 1919 from Ozark Folksongs; Randolph
[My title. From Ozark Folksongs; Vance Randolph, version B.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
B. [Honored Soldier]- Sung by Mrs. R. A. Hobbes, Fayetteville, Ark., Oct., 21, 1919.
Says she, my honored soldier,
I fain would be your wife,
But my old father is so mean
I'm afraid he'll take my life.
Then first come the old man
To his daughter did say,
Is this here your proceedings,
Dear daughter, I pray?
If this be your intentions
To be a soldier's wife,
Down in this lonesome valley
I'll have to take your life.
Up steps the soldier
All fitted for the battle,
He says to her father,
This here's no time to prattle.
He drawed his sword an' pistols,
Alighted from his saddle,
An' the lady held the horses
While the soldier fought the battle.
The first that he come to
He run him through a main,
The second that he come to
He serv-ed just the same.
******
Oh, hold your hand, brave soldier,
An' spare me but my life,
An' you can have my daughter
To be your wedded wife.
Oh hold your hand, brave soldier,
An' don't you be so bold,
An' you can have a portion,
Twelve thousand pounds of gold.
Oh no, says the lady,
That portion is too small,
If you will kill the old man
Then we can have it all.
He took them both home,
An' called them his heirs,
It was not through good will
But it was through dread an' fears.
Come all you pretty girls
Who have money up in store,
Oh don't despise a soldier
Because he is poor.
For a soldier lives airy,
Jolly, brisk an' free,
An' generally will fight
For his rights an' liberty.