Studies in Folk-Song and Popular PoetryWilliams, Alfred M. (Alfred Mason)
History
Studies in Folk-Song and Popular Poetry
Williams, Alfred M. (Alfred Mason)
Folk songs -- History and criticism
THE THREE ORPHANS.
"Where go ye, dear orphans three?"
"Far from this place for work to seek."
"Oh, do not go, dear orphans three,
For work you are too small and weak."
"Come, I will give you three small wands,
Upon your mother's grave to knock."
"Arise, arise, our mother dear,
Cold and ragged are your flock."
"I cannot rise, dear orphans three,
Within my shroud I'm dried to bone;
But you have now a second mother,
Who will tend you as her own."
"When she combs our tangled hair,
Her talons scratch and make us bleed,
And when she gives us food to eat,'
'T is with curses she would feed."
BUGA JAKAB.
"Why do you grumble, comrade, that there's nothing in your
purse?
God is good, his gifts are sure, keep up your heart from woe;
The winter it will soon be past, the bloom come to the furze,
And where our eyes look round us we will go."
"How can I help my sadness, lad, how can I drop my care?
All the ills of life I feel in my bosom sore;
I cannot sleep nor rest, nor breathe refreshing air,
My heart is in a well and covered o'er.
"My side is naked to the blast, my coat to rags is torn,
My shoulder blade is bleeding raw, where my belt will chafe,
My horse has lost a shoe behind, the others they are worn,
And I'm afraid that none of them are safe.
"In my mantle the rain has soaked, and rotted its strength
away,
I cannot hope for another; no one will make a gift;
have my wallet still, but bare and empty it must stay;
But that is not the worst of all my shrift.
"From my trimming of good wolf's fur the hair is falling out,
Across my flagon's mouth the spider has spun a sheet;
The joys of youth have left me; no one comes me about,
To wash my sweated shirt and make it neat."
"For all the ills of life, my friend, one lives as best one may.
The blest rays of the sunshine still warm my heart and
breast.
When I can't eat, I light my pipe, and puff my care away.
Poor fellows live; I live as do the rest."
THE FAIR ILONA.
"Heaven bless you,
Judge, my lord,
Keep your house
In safe accord."
"What kind fortune
Did you send
To my house
Your steps to bend?"
"I led my geese
To meadows green,
The judge's son
With stones was seen,
He killed my gosling
Of yellow sheen."
"What shall be paid,
Ilona fair,
For thy young gosling
The lad killed there?"
"For each of his feathers,
A ducat bright;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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