In August 1908 Cecil Sharp got this version of "Steal away the Morning Dew" from a Mrs Price of Compton Martin, a village on the northern slopes of the Mendips :-

1 There was a farmer's son kept sheep all on the hill,
    he walk-ed out one May morning to see what he could kill.

chorus Oh roll me in the morning dew, the dew and the dew,
         steal away the morning dew, how sweet the winds do blow.

2   He look-ed high, he look-ed low, he cast an underlook,
      and there he saw a pretty maid all in the watery brook.

3   "You leave alone my mantle dress, you leave alone my gown,
       and if you will take hold my hand I will be your own."

4   He mounted on a milk-white steed and she upon another,
    and there they rode along the road like sister and like brother.

5. And there they rode along the road til they came to some fields of hay,
    "Isn't this a pretty place for boys and girls to play?"

6. "You stop til you come to my father's house, then you shall have a crown,
      there I will engage with you a thirty thousand pound."

7.   And when she came to her father's house so lively she did run -
      none was ready as the waiting-maid to let this lady in.

8.   She mounted off her milk-white steed and then she did step in,
      she said,"You are a rogue without and I'm a maid within."

9.   "My mother got a flower inn her garden call-ed Marigold,
       if you will not when you may you shall not when you wold."

10. "My father got a cock in his barton call-ed double-game.
       He oftimes crew but never tread a hen - I think you're just the same."

It is said the girls would wash themselves in the dew of 1st May, as it was supposed to be especially good for the skin.

I'm not 100% sure if Mrs Price sang "will" or "wold" in v. 9.

A friend tells me that "Marigold" meant a person of uncertain sexuality. The "double game" cock is a bit obscure, but I wonder whether Mrs Price actually sang "double comb", i.e. a particularly impressive bird with a double comb on his head (see Robinia's post of 16 March 07 above). This one has no libido however, so the insult seems to mean that the young man just hasn't got what it takes.