THERE was a jolly beggar, and a begging he was bound, <br />And he took up his quarters into a landart town. <br />Fa la la, etc. <br />He wad neither ly in barn, nor yet wad he in byre, <br />But in ahint the ha-door, or else afore the fire. <br />The beggar’s bed was made at een wi good clean straw and hay, <br />And in ahint the ha-door, and there the beggar lay. <br />raise the goodman’s dochter, and for to bar the door, <br />And there she saw the beggar standin i the floor. <br />He took the lassie in his arms and to the bed he ran, <br />‘O hooly, hooly wi me, sir! ye’ll waken our goodman.’ <br />The beggar was a cunnin loon, and neer a word he spake <br />Until he got his turn done, syne he began to crack. <br />‘Is there ony dogs into this town? maiden, tell me true.’ <br />‘And what wad ye do wi them, my hinny and my dow?’ <br />‘They’ll rive a’ my mealpocks, and do me meikle wrang.’ <br />‘O dool for the doing o’t! are ye the poor man?’ <br />Then she took up the mealpocks and flang them oer the wa: <br />‘The d--l gae wi the mealpocks, my maidenhead and a’! <br />‘I took ye for some gentleman, at least the Larid of Brodie; <br />O dool for the doing o’t! are ye the poor bodie?’ <br />took the lassie in his arms and gae her kisses three, <br />And four-and-twenty hunder merk to pay the nurice-fee. <br />He took a horn frae his side and blew baith loud and shrill, <br />And four-and-twenty belted knights came skipping oer the hill. <br />And he took out his little knife, loot a’ his duddies fa, <br />And he was the brawest gentleman that was amang them a’. <br />The beggar was a cliver loon and he lap shoulder height: <br />‘O ay for sicken quarters as I gat yesternight!’<br /><br />Anonymous Olde English<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-jolly-beggar-ii/
