After listening to Nic Jones's beautiful "The Singer's Request", I was curious to see "The Minstrel's Request", the poem by Sir Walter Scott on which the song was supposedly based. I couldn't find that, but I did find this, from the Canto V of Scott's epic poem /Rokeby/:

[much poetry omitted]

A knock alarm'd the outer gate,
And ere the tardy porter stirr'd,
The tinkling of a harp was heard.
A manly voice of mellow swell,
Bore burden to the music well.

"Summer eve is gone and past,
Summer dew is falling fast;
I have wander'd all the day,
Do not bid me farther stray!
Gentle hearts, of gentle kin,
Take the wandering harper in."

[more omitted]

"Bid not me, in battle-field,
Buckler lift, or broadsword wield!
All my strength and all my art
Is to touch the gentle heart,
With the wizard notes that ring
From the peaceful minstrel-string."

[more snippage]

"I have song of war for knight,
Lay of love for lady bright,
Fairy tale to lull the heir,
Goblin grim the maids to scare.
Dark the night, and long till day,
Do not bid me farther stray!

"Rokeby's lords of martial fame,
I can count them name by name;
Legends of their line there be,
Known to few, but known to me;
If you honour Rokeby's kin,
Take the wandering harper in!

"Rokeby's lords had fair regard
For the harp, and for the bard;
Baron's race throve never well,
Where the curse of minstrel fell.
If you love that noble kin,
Take the weary harper in!"



So there you have it. I like tracking Revival songs back to older texts - I find you can often come up with something that works better and/or makes more sense. Not in this case, though - seeing the source material just shows how much Nic Jones did with it.