YOUNG WATERS
(Son of Child #63, Child Waters)
(Bob Coltman)

Down to the stable, and a-ready for to ride,
By come fair Ellen, says, Darling, won't you bide?
I can't bide, nor I can't stay,
I'm bound to go a-riding, I'm already half away.

You're hasty in your riding, I wonder do you see
This long skirt I'm wearing, how short it's got for me,
There's a child in my body, so little and weak
'Twould claim you for its father if it could only speak.

Wherever I'm going no woman can go,
Oh let me go with you, I'll dress as a boy,
Cut short my gown and cut short my curls,
I shall be your footpage, none know me for a girl.

All day long Young Waters did ride,
All day long she run barefoot by his side,
Never for a moment did he have the courtesy
To give her a hand up and say, Ellen, ride with me.

They came to the water, Ellen stumbled in,
I have run these twenty miles, and now must I swim?
Oh, won't you go slower? Oh, must you ride so fast?
This child that is none but yours will make my body burst.

Oh don't you see the island, the tower of red gold,
The fair and silken bower, the dark ancient wood,
The ladies in the garden, a-playing at the ball,
And my own intended lover the fairest of them all.

Why, is this your footpage, how handsome is he!
He seems so tired, let me take him in with me,
Oh no, says young Waters, he's been running in the mire,
He must take my horse to grass and build the kitchen fire.

He sent Ellen down to town, alow down in the street
For to hire him a damsel the night for to keep,
Now, darling Waters, let me lie at your bedfeet,
For I am weak and terrible cold, and I have nowhere to sleep.

Rise up, young Waters, you sleep so like the dead,
The cries I hear below the bedfoot like to freeze my head,
It sounds like some ghost in penitence doth groan,
Or else some woman in childbed far gone.

He rose up and found her, singing lullaby,
Her voice a mixture of grief and of joy,
His heart broke within him, he came and took her hand,
Saying, you have been the truest girl, and I the cruelest man.

Peace now, Ellen, and let me see you smile,
I swear I shall love you through all the after while,
If I have been your devil, I will now change my way,
And the bridal and the christening shall be one single day.

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Click to play (joeweb)

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Bob - first verse, second line - is that supposed to be "By come fair Ellen"? (Bob replied that "by come fair Ellen" is correct)