i was playing it outdoors one day and someone asked me if I was Chris Wood !

Another time I was asked by a senior gentleman if I knew Frank Mansell. I said I did not.

He took my address and shrotly after kindly sent me a booklet of Mansell's works

Therein was the Cottagers Reply in its entirety as posted above by Jim D

I have taken the liberty of marrying the the two versions while staying true to the original.

I particularly liked the lines

'to feel the soil that nursed my race'

'friend to drink with , wench to smile'

So I have a fuller version knowing that 'folksong listeners/academicians ' will have no difficulty follow the whole story, being as we are of superior concentration powers than some


As for the guitar I have the C Wood runs etc based upon a dropped D tuning
my voice can sing it in D
I play an F shaped chord on the 10th fret to begin the run

The Bm comes on the word ''land' at the end of the song