Sweet William [The Knight and Shepherd's Daughter]- Simmonds (NL) 1930 Greenlief
[My Title. From: Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland- Greenleaf and Mansfield 1933. Kittredge's references follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
15. THE KNIGHT AND THE SHEPHERD'S DAUGHTER
(CHILD, No. 110)
See Barry, Journal, XXII, 377-378, with tune (Massachusetts, from a Scotch laborer in Ireland). For English versions see Sharp and Manon, Folk Songs from Somerset, No. 28, D, 2-3; Sharp, One Hundred English Folksongs, No. 3 (and Notes, p. xviii); Sharp, English Folk Songs, J, 6-7. No. 3; Kidson, Traditional Tunes, pp. 2I; Journal of the Folksong Society, III, 222-223, 280--281; V, 86--90; A. Williams, Folk Songs of the Upper Thames, pp. 102-103; H. Pentin, Preceedings of the Dorset Naturalist Society and Antiquarian Field Club, XXVII, 32-33; The Vocal Magazine, 1781, Song 1081, pp. 297-298; Keith, No. 43.
[Sweet William] - Communicated by Mrs. Maude Roberts Simmonds, Glenburnie, Bonne Bay, I930.
1 'Twas of a knight was riding by,
And he got drunk with wine,
. . .
. . .
2 As he was riding along,
A maid he chanced to spy;
He clapsed his arm around her waist
And threw her on the ground.
Fall the diddle, all the doll, a-dee.
3 "Since you bad the will of me,
Pray tell unto me your name,
For when my little baby is born
I may call it the same."
4 "Some do call me Jack,
And some do call me John,
But when I comes to the king's fair court,
They call me Sweet William."
5 He put his foot all in the stirrup
And away he began to ride;
She tied her handkerchief around her middle,
And ran by the horse's side.
6 She run till she came to the broad riverside,
She lay on her belly and swum,
She swum till she came to the other side,
She took to her heels and run.
7 She ran till she came to the king's fair court,
So loudly she did ring;
There was none so ready as the king himself
To let this fair one in.
8 "What do you want, fair maid?" he said,
"What do you want?" said he.
"There is one man all in your town
This day have a-robbed me."
9 "What have he robbed you of, fair maid?
Any of your gold or any of your store?"
. . .
. . .
10 "He have not robbed me of my gold,
or any of my store;
He've robbed me of my maidenhead,
And that is the worst of all."
11 "O, if he is a married man,
'Tis hanged he will be;
And if he is a single man,
His fair body I will give unto thee."
12 "What would you know him by, fair maid?
What would you know him by?"
"I would know him by his down galles look
And the rolling of his eye."
13 The king called up his merry men
By one, by two, by three;
Young William was always the first,
But the last of all came he.
14 "O, cursed was the day
That I got drunk on wine,
To think any farmer's daughter be
A true love of mine."
15 "A farmer's daughter although I am,
You might have leaved me alone.
If you make me a lady over one thousand
I will make you a lord over ten."
16 'Twas early the next morning
To the church they did go,
Where she proved to be a duke's daughter
And he a blacksmith's son.
Fall the diddle, all the doll, a-dee.