The Silver Dagger- (NC) pre1932 Greer MS
[No informant or location named. W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University; Greer Collection MS, lyric variant No. 1; before 1932. The important missing 7th stanza was added in brackets.
This is a full version of the 11 stanza "composed" ballad title "Silver Dagger" from the early 1800s in the US. A version was published in 1849 and 1850.
R. Matteson 2016]
The Silver Dagger
1. Come all young men, please lend attention,
To these few lines I'm going to write:
They are just as true as ever was written
Concerning a fair and a beauty bright.
2. There was a young man, he loved a maiden
He loved her dear as he loved his life,
And oft-times would vow unto her
He would one day make her his wife.
3. But when his parents came to know this,
They sought to part them both night and day;
"Son, O son, don't be so foolish
"She is too poor," they would oft-times say.
4. Down on his bended knees kind saying,
"Parents, parents, pity me,
Don't take from me my own dear jewel
She's all in this world to me."
5. And when this maiden came to know of this,
She resolved in her mind what she would do;
She took a road and left the city,
This pleasant road no more to view.
6. She went down by flowing waters,
And there for death she did prepare;
She said, "This is the dreadful morning,
I'm sinking down into despair.
[7. Then out she pulled her Silver Dagger.
And pierced it through her snow white breast;
At first she reeled, and then she staggered,
Saying, oh! my dear, I’m going to rest.]
8. As he was walking out in the twilight,
He thought he heard his true love's voice;
He ran, he ran, like a man distracted,
Says, "O! true love, I fear you are lost."
9. Her dark blue eyes like diamonds sparkled,
As she lay dying at his feet,
"Prepare to meet me on Mount Zion,
Where all our love will be complete."
10. He picked the bleeding body,
And rolled it over in his arms;
He said, "True love it's are you dying,
Would you die with all your charms?
11. He picked up the bloody weapon,
He pierced it through his own dear breast—
He said, "This is the dreadful warning[1]
When own true lovers gone to rest."
1. original "morning"