The Jolly Beggar

(album: Black Sheep - 1993)

It's of a jolly beggarman
Came tripping o'er the plain
He came unto a farmer's door
A lodging for to gain
The farmer's daughter She came down
And viewed him cheek and chin
She said: "He is a handsome man
I pray you take him in"

He would not lie within the barn
Nor yet within the byre
But he would in the corner lie
Down by the kitchen fire
Oh, then the beggar's bed was made
Of good clean sheets and hay
And down beside the kitchen fire
The jolly beggar lay

The farmer's daughter she got up
To bolt the kitchen door
And there she saw the beggar standing
Naked on the floor
He took the daughter in his arms
And to the bed he ran
"Kind sir" she says "Be easy now
You'll waken our good man"

"Now you are no beggar
You are some gentleman
For you have stolen my maidenhead
And I am quite undone"
"I am no Lord I am no squire
Of beggars I be one
And beggars they be robbers all
So you are quite undone"

She took her bed in both her hands
And threw it at the wall
Says "Go ye with the beggarman
My maidenhead and all"

We'll go no more aroving
Aroving in the night
We'll go no more aroving
Let the moon shine so bright
We'll go no more aroving