‘A pye sat on a pear-tree,
I-ho, I-ho, I-ho.’
‘Io!’ or, as we find it given in these lyrics, ‘I-ho!’ was an ancient form of acclamation or triumph on joyful occasions and anniversaries. It is common, with slight variations, to different languages. In the Gothic, for example, Iola signifies to make merry. It has been supposed by some etymologists that the word ‘yule’ is a corruption of ‘Io!’]
There was a shepherd’s son,
He kept sheep on yonder hill;
He laid his pipe and his crook aside,
And there he slept his fill.
And blow the winds, I-ho!
Sing, blow the winds, I-ho!
Clear away the morning dew,
And blow the winds, I-ho!
He lookèd east, and he lookèd west,
He took another look,
And there he spied a lady gay,
Was dipping in a brook.
She said, ‘Sir, don’t touch my mantle,
Come, let my clothes alone;
I will give you as much monèy
As you can carry home.’
‘I will not touch your mantle,
I’ll let your clothes alone;
I’ll take you out of the water clear,
My dear, to be my own.’
He did not touch her mantle,
He let her clothes alone;
But he took her from the clear water,
And all to be his own.
He set her on a milk-white steed,
Himself upon another;
And there they rode along the road,
Like sister, and like brother.
And as they rode along the road,
He spied some cocks of hay;
‘Yonder,’ he says, ‘is a lovely place
For men and maids to play!’