Willie's Lady (Child 6)

King Willie he sailed over the raging foam He's wooed a wife and he's brought her home He's brought her home all against his mother's will His mother wrought her a wicked spell And a wicked spell she's laid on her She'd be with child for long and many's the year But the child she would never bear And in her bower she lies in pain King Willie by her bedside he does stand As down his cheeks salten tears do run King Willie back to his mother he did run And he's gone there as a begging son Says, "My true love has this fine noble steed The likes of which you have never seen" "And at every part of this horse's mane There's hanging fifty silver bells and ten Hanging fifty bells and ten" "This goodly gift shall be your own If back to my own true love you'll turn again So she might bear her baby son" "Oh, of the child she'll never lighter be And of my curse she will ne'er be free But she will die and she will turn to clay And you will wed with another maid" And sighing says this weary man As back to his own true love he's gone again "I wish my life was at an end" King Willie back to his mother he did run And he's gone there as a begging son Says, "My true love has this fine golden girdle Set with jewels all about the middle" "And at every part of this girdle's hem There's hanging fifty silver bells and ten Hanging fifty bells and ten" "This goodly gift shall be your own If back to my own true love you'll turn again So she might bear her baby son" "Oh, of the child she'll never lighter be And of my curse she will ne'er be free But she will die and she will turn to clay And you will wed with another maid" And sighing says this weary man As back to his own true love he's gone again "I wish my life was at an end" Then up and spoke his noble queen And she has told King Willie of a plan How she might bear her baby son Says,"You must go get you down to the marketplace And you must buy a ball of wax And you must shape it as a babe that is to nurse And you must make two eyes of glass" "Ask your mother to the christening day And you must stand there close as you can be So you might hear what she does say" King Willie he's gone down to the marketplace And he has bought a ball of wax And he has shaped it as a babe that is to nurse And he has made two eyes of glass He asked his mother to the christening day And he has stood there close as he could be So he might hear what she did say And how she spat and how she swore She spied the babe where no babe could be before She spied the babe where none could be before Says, "Who was it who undid the nine witch knots Braided in amongst this lady's locks? And who was it who the leather shoe untied From the left foot of his wedded bride?" "And who was it split the silken thread The spider stretched all beneath this lady's bed? The spider stretched all beneath her bed" And it was Willie who undid the nine witch knots Braided in amongst his lady's locks And it was Willie who the leather shoe untied From the left foot of his wedded bride And it was Willie split the silken thread The spider stretched all beneath his lady's bed The spider stretched all beneath her bed And she has born him a baby son And great are the blessings that be them upon And great are the blessings them upon