James Harris, (The Daemon Lover)
No: 243; variant: 243B
- 'WELL met, well met, my own true love,
Long time I have been seeking thee;
I am lately come from the salt sea,
And all for the sake, love, of thee.
- 'I might have had a king's daughter,
And fain she would have married me;
But I've forsaken all her crowns of gold,
And all for the sake, love, of thee.'
- 'If you might have had a king's daughter,
I think you much to blame;
I would not for five hundred pounds
That my husband should hear the same.
- 'For my husband is a carpenter,
And a young ship-carpenter is he,
And by him I have a little son,
Or else, love, I'd go along with thee.
- 'But if I should leave my husband dear,
Likewise my little son also,
What have you to maintain me withal,
If I along with you should go?'
- 'I have seven ships upon the seas,
And one of them brought me to land,
And seventeen mariners to wait on thee,
For to be, love, at your command.
- 'A pair of slippers thou shalt have,
They shall be mad of beaten gold,
Nay and be lin'd with velvet soft,
For to keep thy feet from cold.
- 'A gilded boat thou then shall have,
The oars shall gilded be also,
And mariners to row the[e] along,
For to keep thee from thy overthrow.'
- They had not been long upon the sea
Before that she began to weep:
'What, weep you for my gold?' he said,
'Or do you weep for my fee?
- 'Or do you weep for some other young man
That you love much better than me?'
'No, I do weep for my little son,
That should have come along with me.'
- She had not been upon the seas
Passing days three or four
But the mariner and she were drowned,
And never were heard of more.
- When tidings to old England came
The ship-carpenter's wife was drownd,
He wrung his hands and tore his hair,
And grievously fell in a swoon.
- 'Oh cursed be those mariners!
For they do lead a wicked life;
They ruind me, a ship-carpenter,
Be deluding away my wife.'