Читать книгу Lark Rise to Candleford онлайн

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So David would have his turn. He only knew the one ballad, and that, he said, his grandfather had sung, and had said that he had heard his own grandfather sing it. [Pg 68] Probably a long chain of grandfathers had sung it; but David was fated to be the last of them. It was out of date, even then, and only tolerated on account of his age. It ran:

An outlandish knight, all from the north lands, A-wooing came to me, He said he would take me to the north lands And there he would marry me. 'Go, fetch me some of your father's gold And some of your mother's fee, And two of the best nags out of the stable Where there stand thirty and three.' She fetched him some of her father's gold And some of her mother's fee, And two of the best nags out of the stable Where there stood thirty and three. And then she mounted her milk-white steed And he the dapple grey, And they rode until they came to the sea-shore, Three hours before it was day. 'Get off, get off thy milk-white steed And deliver it unto me, For six pretty maids I have drowned here And thou the seventh shall be. 'Take off, take off, thy silken gown, And deliver it unto me, For I think it is too rich and too good To rot in the salt sea.' 'If I must take off my silken gown, Pray turn thy back to me, For I think it's not fitting a ruffian like you A naked woman should see.' He turned his back towards her To view the leaves so green, And she took hold of his middle so small And tumbled him into the stream.