Young Hunting (Traditional Version)

<br>It happened on one evening late,<br>As the maid was going to bed,<br>She heard a sound, a beautiful sound,<br>That made her heart feel glad.<br><br><br>She thought it was her brother John,<br>Returning from the cane;<br>But who should it be but Lord Henry,<br>Just from his wild hunting.<br><br><br>"Get down, get down, Lord Henry,<br>And stay all night with me;<br>For the very best lodging in Mulveren Town,<br>The best I`ll give to thee."<br><br><br>"I won`t get down, I shan`t get down,<br>To stay all night with you;<br>For there`s a prettier girl in the merry green lands,<br>That I love much better than you."<br><br><br>As he leaned o`er his milk-white steed<br>And kisses gave her three,<br>She held up a knife in her right hand<br>And pierced him heartily.<br><br><br>"O live, O live, Lord Henry,<br>Half an hour or more;<br>For the very best doctors in Mulveren Town,<br>You`ll soon be in their care."<br><br><br>"O live, O live, how can I live,<br>How can I live you see,<br>When l can feel my own heart`s blood,<br>Come trinkling o`er my knee?"<br><br><br>She called her waiting maids unto her<br>To view his body so fair,<br>Saying, "Of all this finery you see around here,<br>The finest you shall wear."<br><br><br>Some took him by his curly locks,<br>Some by his hands and feet,<br>And threw him in the cold, dark well,<br>Which was both cold and deep<br><br><br>"Lie there, lie there, Lord Henry,<br>Till the flesh rots off your bones!<br>That prettier girl in the merry green lands,<br>Shall mourn for your return."<br><br><br>There was a pretty parrot bird,<br>Sitting high upon a limb,<br>Saying, "You murdered Lord Henry,<br>And in the well threw him."<br><br><br>"Come down, come down, my pretty parrot bird,<br>And sit on my right knee;<br>Your cage shall be the finest gold,<br>And the door of ivory."<br><br><br>"I won`t come down, I shan`t come down,<br>To sit on your right knee;<br>For you have murdered Lord Henry,<br>And soon you`d murder me"<br><br><br>"I wish I had my bended bow,<br>My arrow and my string;<br>I`d pierce a dart so close your heart,<br>Those notes no more you`d sing."<br><br><br>"O if you had your bended bow,<br>Your arrow and your string,<br>I`d take my flight to the merry green lands<br>And tell what I`d seen."