The Hard-hearted Young Man- Jepson (Utah) 1870
Traditional Ballads from Utah
by Lester A. Hubbard and LeRoy J. Robertson
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 64, No. 251 (Jan. - Mar., 1951), pp. 37-53
2. "The Broomfield Hill" (Child No. 43)
"The Hard-hearted Young Man." James Jepson of Hurricane was nearly 93 years old when he sang this and 48 other ballads and songs in August, I947. He learned this ballad while freighting from southern Utah to Salt Lake City in 1870. The two similar Utah texts have deteriorated considerably. The soporific effects of the broom flower and the attempts of the steed, goshawk or parrot to arouse the sleeping young man are omitted in both. Texts and references are included in Josiah H. Combs, Folk-Songs du Midi Etats-Unis (Paris, I925) pp. 127-129; Mellinger E. Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands (New York, I938), pp. 53-54; JAF, 24 (I9II), I4.
A. "The Hard-hearted Young Man."
"Wager a wager and I will go with thee
Away to the May blooming field;
A maiden I will go to the May blooming field
And a maiden it I will return."
"Wager a wager and you may go with me
Away to the May blooming field;
A maiden you may go to the May blooming field,
But a maiden you never will return."
Away this young man went his wager for to win,
Away to the May blooming field.
He sat himself down by a clear flowing stream
And fell fast asleep on its banks.
Nine times she walked around the crown of his head,
And nine times she walked around his feet,
And nine times she kissed the ruby, ruby lips
As he lay on the banks fast asleep.
The ring that she wore on her little finger,
The same she did place upon his own
That it might be a token of love unto him
That she had been there but was gone.
"If I had been awake as I was asleep
This maiden she never would have fled.
It's her I would have killed and her blood I would have spilled,
And the birds told the story of the dead."
"Oh, hard-heartedy oung man, oh, hard-heartedy outh!
Your heart is just as hard as any stone,
For to think of killing one who has loved you so long
And would mourn o'er the grave you lie in."