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THREE KNIGHTS FROM SPAIN |
265 |
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XVII. I am a gentleman come from Spain ;
I've come to court your daughter Jane.
My daughter Jane, is yet too young To understand your flattering tongue.
Let her be young, or let her be old, She must be sold for Spanish gold. So fare thee well, my lady gay, I'll call upon you another day.
Turn back, turn back, you saucy lad,* And choose the fairest you can spy!
The fairest one that I can see
Is pretty Miss-------. Come to me !
I've brought your daughter home safe and sound, With money in her pocket here, a thousand pound : Take your saucy girl back again.
—Booking, Essex (Folk-lore Record, iii. pt. ii. 171).
XVIII. Here comes three knights all out of Spain, A-courting of your daughter Jane.
My daughter Jane, she is too young, She can't abide your flattering tongue.
If she be young, or she be old, She for her beauty must be sold.
Go back, go back, you Spanish knight, And rub your spurs till they are bright.
My spurs are bright and richly wrought, And in this town they were not bought, And in this town they shan't be sold, Neither for silver nor for gold.
Walk up the kitchen and down the hall, And choose the fairest of us all. |
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* Probably once "boy," pronounced "by" in Essex. |
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