Lyr Add: The Miller And The Maid

Subject: Lyr Add: The Miller And The Maid
From: WaylandTheBard
Date: 10 Sep 25 - 05:07 AM

aka The Miller And The Lass
Lyrics as sung by Gordon McIntyre on "A Wench a Whale and a Pint of Good Ale" 1966

A brisk young lass, so brisk and gay,
She went down to the mill one day.
To me right fol la, my liddle liddle idle, right fol, right fol ay

She’d a peck of corn all for to grind
But the devil of the miller could she find.
To me right fol la, my liddle liddle idle, right fol, right fol ay

When at last the miller came in
This fair young lass she did begin.
To me right fol la, my liddle liddle idle, right fol, right fol ay

“I’ve a peck of corn all for to grind
And I can but stay a little time.”
To me right fol la, my liddle liddle idle, right fol, right fol ay

“Go sit you down, my sweet pretty dear,
For I cannot grind your corn, I fear.”
To me right fol la, my liddle liddle idle, right fol, right fol ay

Then she sat down all on a sack,
And they talked of this, and they talked of that.
To me right fol la, my liddle liddle idle, right fol, right fol ay

Then an easy up and down,
She scarce could tell when her corn was ground.
To me right fol la, my liddle liddle idle, right fol, right fol ay

“Now go you home, my sweet pretty dear,
For your corn is ground and the mill is clear.”
To me right fol la, my liddle liddle idle, right fol, right fol ay

She swore she’d been ground by a score or more
But never been ground so well before.
To me right fol la, my liddle liddle idle, right fol, right fol ay

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Miller And The Maid
From: Lighter
Date: 11 Sep 25 - 09:50 AM

Roud No. 21399, which really includes three unique, textually unrelated songs about millers and maids, including "The Maid Gaed tae the Mill by Nicht."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Miller And The Maid
From: Lighter
Date: 11 Sep 25 - 01:41 PM

More definitively, Roud 1128.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Miller And The Maid
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Sep 25 - 03:46 PM

Here's the Traditional Ballad Index listing:

Miller and the Lass, The

DESCRIPTION: A maid takes her corn to be ground. The miller says he can't grind right now "my stones is high and my water low." She stays with him until "the mill would grind." "She swore she'd been ground by a score or more But never been ground so well before"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (Reeves/Sharp-TheIdiomOfThePeople)
KEYWORDS: sex miller
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South,West))
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "MILLER AND THE LASS, THE"
Reeves/Sharp-TheIdiomOfThePeople 63, "The Miller and the Lass" (1 text)
Palmer-EnglishCountrySongbook, "The Miller's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-SongsOfTheMidlands, p. 44, "The Miller's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Purslow-TheConstantLovers, p. 60, "The Miller and the Lass" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1128
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Maid Gaed to the Mill" (theme: sex and a miller; grinding corn as the metaphor) and references there
File: ReSh063

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