The Highwayman Outwitted In Lincolnshire lived a rich farmer, And his daughter to market would go; Thinking that no body would harm her, As she rode away to and fro. Till she met with a lusty highwayman, Her pockets he drew from her sides; And as she stood shivering and shaking, He gave her the bridle to hold. From stirrip to saddle she mounted, She threw her legs over like a man; All the way that she gallop'd, she shouted Now catch me you rogue, if you can. This highwayman soon followed after, A bullet from his pistol let fly; He ran, but he could not come at her, His boots they so hampered his knees. As she rode over her father's green pasters, It had just struck a eleven by the clock; Her father was sorely afrighted, to see Her ride home in her smock. O daughter what has been the matter, you Have tarried so long from your home? O father I have been sorely afrighted, But still I have come to no harm. Then he pulled from behind her, a Port mantell with several articals more; And ninety score of bright guineas, He tumbled them out on the floor. O father this is a grand portion, It will keep the wild wolf from the door; O daughter it is a grand portion, Unto thee I will give as much more. Then here is a health to the lass, That the risk of her life she has run; She tricked the highwayman compIetely Out of his horse, money and gun. DT #682 Laws L2 Reprinted from a broadside by Harkness in the Houghton Library at Harvard University in Laws American Balladry From British Broadsides. SOF oct96
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