The Elfin Knight
No: 2; variant: 2H
- 'COME, pretty Nelly, and sit thee down by me,
Every rose grows merry wi thyme
And I will ask thee questions three,
And then thou wilt be a true lover of mine.
- 'Thou must buy me a cambrick smock
Without any stitch of needlework.
- 'Thou must wash it in yonder strand,
Where wood never grew and water neer ran.
- 'Thou must dry it on yonder thorn,
Where the sun never shined on since Adam was formed.'
- 'Thou hast asked me questions three;
Sit down till I ask as many of thee.
- 'Thou must buy me an acre of land
Betwixt the salt water, love, and the sea-sand.
- 'Thou must plow it wi a ram's horn,
And sow it all over wi one pile o corn.
- 'Thou must shear it wi a strap o leather,
And tie it all up in a peacock feather.
- 'Thou must stack it in the sea,
And bring the stale o't hame dry to me.
- 'When my love's done, and finished his work,
Let him come to me for his cambric smock.'