False, False Hae Ye Been to Me My Love

False, false hae ye been to me, my love,
0, when have you changed your mind?
But since ye've laid your iove on another fair maid,
I'm afraid that you're ne'er mair mine.

I were climbing to a tree that were too high for me,
Asking fruit where there weren 't any grew ;
I been lifting warm water oot aneath cold clay,
And against the streams I were rowing.

But I mean to climb up some higher tree,
To harry a white (snowflake's) nest,
And down shall I fall, ay, without any fear,
To the arms that loves me the best.

Possible additional verse:

I will never believe a man any more
Let his hair be white, black or brown,
Save he were on the top of a high gallows tree
And swearing he wished to come down.

From Travellers' Songs, MacColl & Seeger
Collected from Christina MacAllister
RG
apr96