Ed de Moel

Child Ballads - Lyrics

Child 110
The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter
Version D

Kinloch's Manuscripts, VII, 68; apparently from the recitation of Jenny Watson of Lanark, aged seventy-three. Only such portions of this version were preserved as differed considerably from C.

Narrative

*   * * *
AND he was never sae discreet
As bid her loup on and ride,
And she was neer sae meanly bred
As for to bid him bide.
2   And whan she cam to yon water,
It was running like a flude:
'I've learned it in my mither's bouer,
I've learned it for my gude,
That I can soum this wan water
Like a fish in a flude.
3   'I've learned it in my father's bouer,
I've learned it for my better,
And I will soum this wan water
As tho I was ane otter.'
* * * * *
4   'Gude day, gude day, my liege the king,
Gude day, gude day, to thee;'
'Gude day,' quoth he, 'My lady fair,
What want ye wi me?'
* * * * *
5   'Gin he be a single man,
His bodie I'll gie thee;
But gin he be a married man,
I'll hang him on a tree.'
* * * * *
6   He's powd out a hundred punds,
Weel lockit in a glove;
. . . .
. . . .
7   'I'll hae nane o your gowd,' she said,
'Nor either o your fee;
But I will hae your ain bodie
The king has granted me.'
8   'O was ye gentle gotten, maid?
Or was ye gentle born?
Or hae ye onie gerss growing?
Or hae ye onie corn?
9   'Or hae ye onie lands or rents,
Lying at libertie?
Or hae ye onie education,
To dance alang wi me?'
10   'I was na gentle gotten, madam,
Nor was I gentle born;
Neither hae I gerss growing,
Nor hae I onie corn.
11   'I have na onie lands or rents,
Lying at libertie;
Nor hae I onie education,
To dance alang wi thee.'
12   He lap on ae milk-white steed,
And she lap on anither,
And then the twa rade out the way
Like sister and like brither.
13   And whan she cam to Tyne's water,
She wililie did say,
Fareweil, ye mills o Tyne's water,
With thee I bid gude-day.
14   Fareweil, ye mills o Tyne's water,
To you I bid gud-een,
Whare monie a day I hae filld my pock,
Baith at midnicht and at een.
* * * * *
15   Whan they cam to her father's yett,
She tirled on the pin;
And an auld belly-blind man was sitting there,
As they war entering in.
16   'The meetest marriage,' the belly-blind did cry,
'Atween the ane and the ither,
Atween the Earl of Stockford's dochter
And the Queen o England's brither.'

This page most recently updated on 06-Mar-2011, 16:36:12.
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