Girl power

11 December 2014



Back in the old days in rural England, farmers would gather at the pub after a day of hard labour in the fields. They would drink a pint of beer and sing many songs. The youngsters novelties, the old ones ancient tunes now forgotten, like the one below: Outlandish Knight
Flora thompson: "The singers were rude and untaught and poor beyond modern imagining; but they deserve to be remembered, for they knew the now lost secret of being happy on little."
 
An outlandish knight, all from the north lands,
  A-wooing came to me,
He said het 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.
 
And he sank high and he sank low
  Until he came to the side.
'Take hold of my hand, my pretty ladye,
  And I will make you my bride.'
 
'Lie there, lie there, you false-hearted man,
  Lie there instead of me,
For six pretty maids hast thou drowned here
  And the seventh hath drowned thee.'
 
So then she mounted the milk-white steed
  And led the dapple grey,
And she rode till she came to her own father's door,
  An hour before it was day.
 

- Aanraders -