24A. The Nightingale- Sutherland (KY) 1925
[This English ballad is also known as "Soldier and the Lady" or "Bold Grenadier."
R. Matteson 2014]
24A- THE NIGHTINGALE
Communicated by Miss Catherine E. Sutherland, Hindman, Knott County, Kentucky, December 20, 1925.
1. One morning, one morning, one morning in May,
I met a fair couple a-making their way;
One was a lady, so neat and so fair,
The other a soldier, a brave volunteer.
2. "Good morning, good morning, good morning to thee,
Oh where are you going, my pretty lady?"
"Oh, I am a-going to the banks of the sea,
See the waters a-gilding, hear the nightingale sing."
3. They had not been standing but one hour or two,
When he out off his knapsack, his fiddle he drew;
And the tune that he played made the valley to ring,
See the waters a-gliding, hear the nightingale sing.
4. "Pretty lady, pretty lady, it's time to give o'er."
"Oh no, pretty soldier, please play me some more;
For I'd rather hear your fiddle, one touch on the string,
See the waters a-gliding, hear the nightingale sing."
5. "Pretty soldier, pretty soldier, will you marry me?
"Oh no, pretty lady, that never can be,
For I have a wife in London and children
Two wives in the ailrlr too many for me."