Digital Tradition Mirror

The Friar in the Well 2

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The Friar in the Well 2

It's of an old friar as I have been told,
     (Fal-the-dal-diddle-i-dee)
He courted a young maid just sixteen years old,
     (Fal-the-dal-diddle-i-dee)
He came to the maid as she lay on her bed,
And swore he would have her maidenhead,
     To my fero-lero-liddle,
     Sing twice to my lanky-down-derry-O!

"Oh! no," said the maid, "for you know very well,
If we do such things things we should go to Hell".
"No matter, my dear, you need have no doubt,
If you was in Hell I could sing you out".

"Oh! then", said the maid, "you shall have this thing,
But you to me ten shillings must bring."
And while he went home the money to fetch,
She thought to herself how the old friar she could catch.

Now while he was gone, the truth to tell,
She hung a cloth in front of the well,
He knocked at the door, the maid let him in,
"Oh! now, my dear, Oh! let us begin."

Then "Alas!" cried the maid, all crafty and cunning,
"I think I hear my father a-coming",
So behind the cloth the old friar did trip,
And into the well he happened to slip.

The friar called out with a pitiful sound,
"Oh! help me out or I shall be drowned",
"You said you could sing my soul out of Hell,
Well, now you can sing yourself out of the well".

So she helped him out and bid him be gone,
And the friar he wanted his money again,
"Oh! no", said the maid, "I'll have none of the matter,
For indeed you must pay me for dirtying the water".

So out of the house the old friar did creep,
Dripping his arse like a newly-dipped sheep,
And young and old commended the maid,
For the very pretty trick she had played.

Child #276
Collected from J.Penny and F. Stockly, Dorset, 1906
RG

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!