seated in the middle of the room. She objects to go. Then he says that he will only give up his rights to her if she will accomplish certain tasks.
Go fetch me, my lady, a cambric shirt,
Whilst every grove rings with a merry antine (antienne),
And stitch it without any needlework,
And thou shalt be a true lover of mine.
O thou must wash it in yonder well,
Where never a drop of water in fell;
O thou must bleach it on yonder grass,
Where never a foot or a hoof did pass.
And thou must hang it upon a white thorn,
That never blossomed since Adam was born.
Unless[1] these works are finished and done,
I’ll take and marry thee under the sun.
To this the girl replies:—
Thou must buy for me an acre of land,
Between the salt sea and the yellow sand.
Thou must plough it o’er with a horse’s horn,
And sow it over with a peppercorn.
Thou must reap it, too, with a piece of leather,
And bind it up with a peacock’s feather.
Thou must take it up in a bottomless sack,
And bear it to mill on a butterfly’s back.
And when these works are finished and done,
I’ll take and marry thee under the sun.
- ↑ As I took the song down, this line ran ‘And when,’ but clearly it should be ‘Unless.’
