A Maiden's Prayer

A man came home from work one night,
To find his house without a light;
He went upstairs to go to bed,
When a sudden thought came to his head.

He walked into his daughter's room,
And found her hanging from a beam;
He took his knife and he cut her down,
And on her breast this note he found.

My love was for that sailor boy,
Who travels far across the sea;
Sometimes I've often thought of him,
But I know he never thinks of me.

I wish my baby had been born,
Then all my troubles would be over;
But tell my love we'll meet again,
Over yonder on that golden shore.

So dig my grave and dig it deep,
And place white lilies at my feet;
And on my breast a turtle dove,
To show that I have died for love.

We dug her grave and we dug it deep,
We placed white lilies at her feet;
And on her breast a turtle dove,
To show that she had died for love;
To show that she had died for love.

####.... Author unknown. Variant of a 19th century British broadside ballad, The Butcher Boy [Laws P24] American Balladry From British Broadsides (G. Malcolm Laws, 1957). Also a variant of the broadside ballad, The Butcher Boy, published by H. De Marsan (New York, N.Y.) circa 1860, and archived at the Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads, shelfmark: Harding B 18(72) ....####

A variant of this plot was also collected in 1959 from Mrs. Wallace Kinslow of Isle aux Morts, NL, by Ken Peacock and published as The Butcher Boy in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 3, pp.707-708, by The National Museum Of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved. A variant was also collected as The Butcher Boy by MacEdward Leach (The Ballad Book, pp.737-738, A.S.Barnes, New York, 1955)