The Jesters Song Lyrics

The Jesters Song lyrics

(Traditional Child Ballad)
An earthly nourris sits and sings
And aye she
sings, "Ba lily wean!
Little ken I of my bairn's father,
Far less
the land in where he be."
Then one arose at her bedside,
And a
grim-faced man inded was he,
Saying, "Here I am, thy bairn's
father,
Though I be not handsome unto thee."
"I am a man upon
the land,
I am a silkie on the sea,
And when I'm far and far frae
land,
I make my home in Sule Skerry."
"It was nae weel,"
quoth the maiden fair,
"It was nae weel, indeed," quoth
she,
"For the Great Silkie of Sule Skerry
Should have come and gi'en
a bairn to me."
Now he has ta'en a purse of gold,
And he has placed
it on her knee,
Saying, "Give to me my wee young son,
And take this
gold as thy nourris fee."
"It shall come to pass, on a summer's
day,
When the sun shines hot on every stone,
That I will take my wee
young son
And teach him for to swim the foam."
"And thou shalt
marry a proud gunner,
And a proud gunner I'm sure he'll be,
And the very
first shot that e'er he shoots,
He'll kill both my young son and me."