Have you heard of the old ballad “Sovay”? I heard it as Solvay but the other spelling seems more common. The protagonist is very plucky even if she’s a bit over the top
Hah, Sovay (aka the Female Highwayman) is so extra, I love her! The name varies from place to place, it can be Sovay, Sylvie, Shilo, Sally, Sophie, there’s even a Cecilia, and the ring is sometimes diamond, sometimes gold. I’d posted a Sovay some time ago, so here’s a Sylvie for you, anon!
Rachael McShane & The Cartographers - Sylvie
Young Sylvie on one summer’s day
She dressed herself in man's array
With a sword and pistol all by her side
To meet her true love, to meet her true love away did ride.
As she was riding o'er the plain
She met her true love and bid him stand:
“Your gold and silver, kind Sir,” she said,
“Or else this moment, or else this moment your life I'll have.”
And when she'd robbed him of all his store
She said, “Kind Sir, there’s one thing more:
That golden ring that I see you wear,
Oh hand it over, oh hand it over and your life I’ll spare.”
“That ring,” he said, “my true love gave;
My life I'll lose, but the ring I'll save.”
Being tender-hearted just like a dove,
She rode away, she rode away from her own true love.
Next morning in the garden green
Just like true lovers they were seen;
He spied his watch hanging by her clothes.
It made him blush then, it made him blush just like any rose.
“Why do you blush, you foolish thing,
I thought to have that golden ring;
'Twas I who robbed you all on the plain,
So here's your gold, love, so here's your gold and your watch and chain.”
“I only did it for to know
Whether you were a man or no.
For if you had given me that ring,” she said,
“I’d have pulled the trigger, I’d have pulled the trigger and shot you dead.”
