I don't know how to format this correctly but this is Altan's version. I tend to trust Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh with the Gaelic (and most everything else!). The the first line of the second verse is quite different from how others have scanned it. If you look here: https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fgb/abhann it seems to refer to a river (side). As I roved out one evening fair By the verdant braes of Screen I set my back to a hawthorn tree To view the sun in the west country And the dew on the forest green A lad I spied by Abhann's side And a maiden by his knee And he was as dark as the very brown wood And she all whey and wan to see All whey and wan was she "Oh sit you down on the grass," he said "On the dewy grass so green For the wee birds all have come and gone Since I my true love have seen," he said "Since I my true love have seen" "Then I'll not sit on the grass," she said "Nor be a love of thine For I hear you love a Connaught maid And your heart's no longer mine," she said "And your heart's no longer mine" "And I will climb a high, high tree And I'll rob a wild bird's nest And back I'll bring whatever I do find To the arms that I love best," she said "To the arms that I love best"
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