The Shepherd Lad

Once there was a shepherd lad

Kept sheep upon the hill

And he's laid his pipe and his crook aside

And there he's slept his fill

He woke up on a riverbank on a fine May morning

And there he spied a lady

Swimming in the clothes that she was born in

So he raised his head from his green bed

and he approached the maid

"Put on your clothes, my dear,"

He says, "and do not be afraid

It's fitter for a lady fair to sew a silken seam

Than to rise on a fair May morning

and swim against the stream."

"Well if you'll not touch my mantle

and you'll leave my clothes alone,

Then I'll give you all the money

Sir that you can carry home."

"I'll not touch your mantle

and I'll leave your clothes alone

But I'll take you out of the clear water

My dear, to be my own"

And he's taken her out of the clear water

and he's rowed her in his arms

"Put on your clothes, my dear,"

He says, "and hide your bounteous charms."

He's put her on a milk white steed

himself upon another

And it's all along the way they rode

like sister and like brother.

She rode up to her father's gate

and she's rapped upon the pin,

And ready stood a porter there

to let the fair maid in.

When the gates were opened

It's so nimbly she stepped in

She said, "Kind sir

You are a fool without and I'm a maid within

So fare thee well, my modest boy

I thank you for your care

But had you done as you desired

I'd never have left you there.

I will sew no silken seam on a fine May morning.

You can bide your time till your time runs out

So take this as fair warning.

I will sew no silken seam on a fine May morning.

You can bide your time till your time runs out

So take this as fair warning.