Maiden's Prayer- "Cat" McManus (AU) 1959 Meredith
[From: "Folk Songs of Australia and the men and women who sang them" John Meridith and Hugh Anderson. 1967.
R. Matteson 2017]
The Maiden's Prayer- Collected by John Meredith in 1959 at Gulgong NSW. Australia. Sung by "Cat" McManus who learned it from Alan "Killer" Riley - a truck-driver who got it from a tent-mate in the area of Bourke where they were trapping rabbits.
A maiden young and fair was she
Who lived in high society
A soldier brave and bold was he
Who stole of her virginity
And when her apron strings hung low
He chased her through the ice and snow
And now her apron strings don't meet
He passes her by on the street
Her father returning late one night
He found her home without a light
He went straightway up to her room
And found her hanging in the gloom
He took his knife and he cut her down
And on her breast these words he found:
Oh Father, Father dig my grave
Place me beside a garden wall,
And on my grave place a turtle-dove
To show this world I died for love.