From The Singing Tradition of Child's Popular Ballads. (Abridgement) edited by Bertrand Harris Bronson (Princeton University Press, 1976), page 10:

31. "The Sea Side; or, The Elfin Knight"

Broadwood, JFSS, III (1907), p. 12. Sung by Bridget Geary at Camphire Cappoquin, County Waterford, Ireland, August 1906.

a I/M

[A tune is also given.]

1. As I roved out by the sea side
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
I met a little girl and I gave her my hand,
And I says, "Will you be a true lover of mine?

2. "If you are to be a true lover of mine
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
You must make me a shirt without needle or seam,
And it's then you will be a true lover of mine.

3. "You must wash it in a spring well
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
Where the water never ran or the rain never fell,
And it's then you will be a true lover of mine.

4. "You must dry it in a hawthorn tree
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
That never was blossomed since Adam was born,
And then you will be a true lover of mine."

5. "Now, Sir, you have questioned me three times three
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
But I might question as many as thee,
And it's then you will be a true lover of mine.

6. "You must get me a farm of the best land
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
Between the salt water and the sea strand,
And it's then you will be a true lover of mine.

7. "You must plough it with a goat's horn
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
And sow it all over with one grain of corn,
And it's then you will be a true lover of mine.

8. "You must thrash it in a sparrow's nest
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
And shake it all out with a cobbler's awl,
And it's then you will be a true lover of mine.

9. "And when you are done, and finished your work
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
You can come back to me, and I'll give you your shirt,
And it's then you will be a true lover of mine!"