The link Joe Offer gave in 1998 now somehow leads to a different song altogether in the DT The Escape of Old John Webb which hasn't even got a scimitar in it!

With any luck this should find the correct song in the DT:- The Errant Apprentice, but note Jim Dixon's corrections above for the penultimate line.

Rosie Stewart sings this song superbly on her recent CD On the Leitrim Mountainside; if you haven't bought the CD yet from her website Rosie Stewart, you can request her to sing it at Whitby this August. It would be an interesting song to sing to celebrate cultural diversity now that Derry has been chosen City of Culture for 2013!

Matthew