Hind Horn (3)

The maid came tripping down the stairs,
Rings on her fingers and gold in her hair,
With a glass of wine all into her hands.
She gave it to the poor old beggarman.

Out of a tumbler he drank the wine;
Into the tumbler he slipped the ring.
She said, "Where did you get this by sea or by land,
Where did you get it---off the drowned man's hand?"

"I neither got it by sea or by land,
Neither did I get it from a drowned man's hand;
My ma-ma gave it to me on her courting day
And I'll give it back on her wedding day."

Rings from her fingers she did let fall,
Gold from her hair she did tear off,
Saying, "I'll go with thee forever, ever more,
If I have to beg my bread from door to door."

From Ballads Migrant in New England, Flanders
Collected from Mrs. Harriet Gott Murphy, Rumford Center, ME, 1942
Child #17
RG