Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4) (Illustrated)

True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;
And he beheld a lady gay;
A lady that was brisk and bold,
Come riding o'er the ferny brae.

Her shirt was o' the grass-green silk,
Her mantle o' the velvet fine;
At ilka tett of her horse's mane,
Hung fifty silver bells and nine.

True Thomas, he took off his hat,
And bowed him low down till his knee:
"All hail, thou mighty Queen of Heaven!
For your peer on earth I never did see."

"O no, O no, True Thomas," she says,
"That name does not belong to me;
I am but the Queen of fair Elfland,
And I am come here for to visit thee.

(tett, tuft.)

"Harp and carp, Thomas," she said;
"Harp and carp along wi' me;
And if ye dare to kiss my lips,
Sure of your body I will be."—



0037m
Original
"Betide me weal, betide me woe,
That weird shall never daunton me."
Syne he has kissed her rosy lips,
All underneath the Eildon Tree.

"But ye maun go wi' me, now, Thomas;
True Thomas, ye maun go wi' me;
For ye maun serve me seven years,
Thro' weal or woe as may chance to be,"

(Harp and carp, chat.)

She turned about her milk-white steed;
And took true Thomas up behind:
And aye, whene'er her bridle rang,
The steed flew swifter than the wind.
For forty days and forty nights
He wade thro' red blude to the knee,
And he saw neither sun nor moon,
But heard the roaring of the sea.