Rosaleen Gregory, traditional ballad singer
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The Baffled Knight

Child #112  3:31  V, B & HG.

Another resourceful female and not-so-bright would-be rapist.
In my grandmother’s book on The Language of Flowers marigolds are said to symbolize ‘vulgar thoughts’.


There was a knight was drunk with wine,
Came riding down the way.
And there he met a lady fair
Among the cocks of hay

CHORUS: Singing loudly whistle in the wind,
Blow the wind hi ho,
Blow away the morning dew,
How sweet the winds do blow (chorus)

Says he, “Shall you and I, lady,
Among the grass lie down,
And I will have a special care
Of rumpling of your gown”

“If you will go along with me
Unto my father’s hall,
You shall enjoy my maidenhead 
And my estates and all”.

He put her on a milk-white steed,
Himself all on another,
And all the day they rode along
Like sister and like brother.

And when she came to her father’s gate
She tirled at the pin,
And ready stood the porter there
To let the fair maid in.

Says she, “I am a maid within,
And you’re a fool without.
There never were a butcher’s boy
Put me in so much doubt.                                                         

There is a cock in father’s barn,
He never trod a hen;
He flies about and flaps his wings,
And I think you’re one of them.

There is a flower in our garden,
We call it marigold;
And if you will not when you may,
You shall not when you would”.

Rosaleen Gregory: Serpent
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