SADDLE TO RAGS
This story I'm going to sing,
I hope it will give you content,
Concerning a silly old man
That was going to pay his rent.
With a till da dill, till a dill, dill,
Till a dill, dill a dill, dee,
Sing fal de dill, dill de dill, dill.
Fal de dill, dill de dill, dee.
As he was a-riding along,
Along all on the highway,
A gentleman-thief overtook him,
And thus unto him he did say:
"O! well overtaken, old man,
O! well overtaken," said he:
"Thank you kindly, sir," says the old man,
"If you be for my company."
"How far are you going this way?"
It made the old man to smile;
"To tell you the truth, kind sir,
I'm just a-going twa mile.
"I am but a silly old man,
Who farms a piece of ground;
My half-year rent, kind sir,
Just comes to forty pound.
"But my landlord's not been at hame,
I've not seen him twelve month or more;
It makes my rent to be large,
I've just to pay him fourscore."
"You should not have told anybody,
For thieves they are ganging many;
If they were to light upon you
They would rob you of every penny."
"O! never mind," says the old man,
"Thieves I fear on no side;
My money is safe in my bags,
In the saddle on which I ride."
As they were a-riding along,
And riding a-down a ghyll,
The thief pulled out a pistol,
And bade the old man stand still.
(ghyll, ravine.)
The old man was crafty and false,
As in this world are many;
He flung his old saddle o'er t' hedge,
And said, "Fetch it, if thou'lt have any."
This thief got off his horse,
With courage stout and bold,
To search this old man's bags,
And gave him his horse to hold.
The old man put foot in stirrup,
And he got on astride;
He set the thief's horse in a gallop,—
You need not bid the old man ride!
"O, stay! O, stay!" says the thief,
"And thou half my share shalt have;"
"Nay, marry, not I," quoth the old man,
"For once I've bitten a knave!"
This thief he was not content,
He thought there must be bags,
So he up with his rusty sword,
And chopped the old saddle to rags.
The old man gallop'd and rode,
Until he was almost spent,
Till he came to his landlord's house,
And he paid him his whole year's rent.
He opened this rogue's portmantle,
It was glorious for to behold;
There was five hundred pound in money,
And other five hundred in gold.
His landlord it made him to stare,
When he did the sight behold;
"Where did thou get the white money,
And where get the yellow gold?"
"I met a fond fool by the way,
I swopped horses, and gave him no boot;
But never mind," says the old man,
"I got a fond fool by the foot."
"But now you're grown cramped and old,
Nor fit for to travel about;"
"O, never mind," says the old man,
"I can give these old bones a route!"
As he was a-riding hame,
And a-down a narrow lane,
He spied his mare tied to a tree,
And said, "Tib, thou'lt now gae hame."
And when that he got hame,
And told his old wife what he'd done:
She rose and she donned her clothes,
And about the house did run.
She sung, and she danced, and sung,
And she sung with a merry devotion,
"If ever our daughter gets wed,
It will help to enlarge her portion!"