The Silver Dagger- Myrtle Badger (WY) 1914 Pound A
[From Pound, American Folk Songs, 1922 and excerpt of this version appears in Folk-Song of Nebraska --Syllabus pp.17-18, 1914 where she give this synopsis: Her lover heard her voice, rushed to her, found her dying, and killed himself with the same dagger."
This is the "composed ballad" version.
R. Matteson 2016]
(A) SILVER DAGGER- secured by Lillian Gear Boswell from the singing of Myrtle Smith Badger of Junction, Wyoming, in 1914.
Come all young men, please lend attention
To these few words I'm going to write;
They are as true as ever were written
Concerning a lady fair and bright.
A young man courted a fair young maiden;
He loved her as he loved his life,
And always vowed that he would make her
His own true and wedded wife.
But when his parents came to know this,
They tried to part them day and night,
Saying, "Son, 0 son, don't you be so foolish—
That girl's too poor for to be your wife."
This young man fell down on his knees a-pleading,
"O father, mother, pity me.
Don't take from me my dearest darling,
For she is all the world to me."
But when the young lady came to know this,
She soon resolved what she would do.
She wandered forth and from the city,
Never more her charms to view.
She wandered down by a bright flowing river,
And sat herself beneath a tree.
She sighed and said, "0 will I ever,
Will I e'er more my true love see?"
Then up she picked her silver dagger,
And pressed it through her snowy white breast.
She first did reel and then did stagger,
Saying, "My true love, you come too late."
This young man being by the roadside heard her;
He thought he knew his true love's voice.
He ran, he ran, like one distracted,
Saying, "My true love, I fear you're lost."
He ran up to this dying body,
Rolled it over into his arms,
Saying, "Neither gold nor friends can save you,
For you are dying in my arms."
Her two pretty eyes like stars she opened,
Saying, "My true love, you come too late.
Prepare to meet me on Mount Zion,
Where all lover's joys shall be complete."
Then up he picked this bloody dagger,
Pressed it through his aching heart;
And now, dear friends, may this be a warning
To all who try to part true love.