3
Then I would curb my roving youth,
no more to see a strange land.
O an’ I were free again now,
and my feet well set on the sea,
I would live in peace in my own land,
and foreign lands no more would see.
The savage Moor had but one daughter,
I wot her name was Susan Py,
She heard young Bichen make his moan,
at the prison door as she past by,
O have ye any lands she said,
or have ye any money free,
Or have you any revenues,
to maintain a lady like me,
O I have land in fair England,
and I have estates two or three.
And likewise I have revenues
to maintain a lady like thee.
O will you promise young man, she says,
and keep your vow faithful to me,
That at the end of seven years
in fair England you’ll marry me?
I’ll steal the keys from my father dear,
though he keeps them most secretly,
I'll risk my life for to save thine,
and set thee safe upon the sea.
She’s stolen the keys from her father,
from under the bed where he lay,
