Willie O'Winsbury - Meg Baird

"Daughter oh daughter " said the king

"Why're you so pale and wan

I fear you have some sore sickness

Or else you have laid with a man "

"You're welcome you're welcome my father dear

You are welcome home to me

For I have sick unto my heart

Since you've been so long on the sea "

"Cast off cast off your berry-brown gown;

Stand naked upon the stone

That I might know you by your shape

Whether you be a maiden or no "

So she's cast off her berry-brown gown;

She's stood naked upon the stone

Her apron was low and her middle was round

Her face was pale and wan

"Oh was it with a lord or a duke or a knight

Or a man of birth and fame

Or was it with one of my serving men

That's lately come out of Spain "

"No it wasn't with a lord nor a duke nor a knight

Nor a man of birth and fame

But it was with Willie O'Winsbury;

I could bide no longer alone "

The king he has sent for his merry men all

By thirty and by three

Saying "Fetch me this Willie O'Winsbury

For hanged he shall be "

But when he was brought before the king

He was clad all in red silk

His hair was like the strands of gold

His skin was white as milk

"It is no wonder " said the king

"How my daughter's love you did win

For if I was a woman as I am a man

My bedfellow you would have been

"Will you marry my daughter Janet

By the truth of your right hand

And if you'll marry my daughter Janet

I will make you the lord of my lands "

"Yes I will marry your daughter Janet

By the truth of my right hand

But I'll not have your gold and I'll not have your gear

And I'll not be the lord of your land

"For I have houses and I have land

I have men at my command

And were it not for your daughter fair

I would not be your servant man "

He sat her upon a milk white steed

And himself on a dapple gray;

He has made her the lady of as much land

As she can ride in a long summer's d