It happened on one evening late,
|
As the maid was going to bed,
|
She heard a sound, a beautiful sound,
|
That made her heart feel glad.
|
|
|
She thought it was her brother John,
|
Returning from the cane;
|
But who should it be but Lord Henry,
|
Just from his wild hunting.
|
|
|
"Get down, get down, Lord Henry,
|
And stay all night with me;
|
For the very best lodging in Mulveren Town,
|
The best I'll give to thee."
|
|
|
"I won't get down, I shan't get down,
|
To stay all night with you;
|
For there's a prettier girl in the merry green lands,
|
That I love much better than you."
|
|
|
As he leaned o'er his milk-white steed
|
And kisses gave her three,
|
She held up a knife in her right hand
|
And pierced him heartily.
|
|
|
"O live, O live, Lord Henry,
|
Half an hour or more;
|
For the very best doctors in Mulveren Town,
|
You'll soon be in their care."
|
|
|
"O live, O live, how can I live,
|
How can I live you see,
|
When l can feel my own heart's blood,
|
Come trinkling o'er my knee?"
|
|
|
She called her waiting maids unto her
|
To view his body so fair,
|
Saying, "Of all this finery you see around here,
|
The finest you shall wear."
|
|
|
Some took him by his curly locks,
|
Some by his hands and feet,
|
And threw him in the cold, dark well,
|
Which was both cold and deep
|
|
|
"Lie there, lie there, Lord Henry,
|
Till the flesh rots off your bones!
|
That prettier girl in the merry green lands,
|
Shall mourn for your return."
|
|
|
There was a pretty parrot bird,
|
Sitting high upon a limb,
|
Saying, "You murdered Lord Henry,
|
And in the well threw him."
|
|
|
"Come down, come down, my pretty parrot bird,
|
And sit on my right knee;
|
Your cage shall be the finest gold,
|
And the door of ivory."
|
|
|
"I won't come down, I shan't come down,
|
To sit on your right knee;
|
For you have murdered Lord Henry,
|
And soon you'd murder me"
|
|
|
"I wish I had my bended bow,
|
My arrow and my string;
|
I'd pierce a dart so close your heart,
|
Those notes no more you'd sing."
|
|
|
"O if you had your bended bow,
|
Your arrow and your string,
|
I'd take my flight to the merry green lands
|
And tell what I'd seen."
|
|
-----------------
|
Young Hunting (tranditional version)
|
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds |