| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
THREE DUKES |
243 |
||
|
Pray which will you take of us, sir ? &c.
You're all as dark as gipsies, &c.
Quite good enough for you, &c.
Then we'll take this one, &c.
[After all are taken, the dukes say]—
Now we've got this bonny bunch, &c. —Hurstmonceux, Sussex, about 1880 (Miss E. Chase).
[A Devon variant gives for the third verse—
You are all too black and ugly, and ugly, and ugly. And—
You are all too black and drowsze, &c. With the additional verse—
I walked through the kitchen,
I walked through the hall,
For the prettiest and fairest
Of you all. Ending with—
Now I have got my bonny lass, &c. And something like—
Will you come and dance with me ?
—Devon (Miss E. Chase)].
XVII. Here comes a duke a-riding, a-riding, a-riding;
Here comes a duke a-riding to the ransy, tansy, tay!
Pray what do you come riding for ? &c.
For one of your fairy [? fair] daughters, &c.
Will either one of these do ? &c.
They're all too black and too dirty, &c.
They're quite as clean as you, sir, &c.
Suppose, then, I take you, Miss, &c.
—Clapham, London (Mrs. Herbertson).
[Another version is played by the duke announcing that he wants a wife. The circle of maids and duke then reply to each other as follows :— |
|||