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Oh when the lord came home that night
Inquiring for his lady-o,
The servant girl she answered him,
"She's gone with the Gypsy laddie-o."
Oh he made haste, his horse and his gait,
And he followed after his lady-o;
'Twas there he spied an old crippled man
A-staggering 'long on a journey-o.
"Have you been east, have you been west,
Have you been north and south-o?
Or have you seen any rich lady gay
A-following the Gypsy laddie-o?"
"Yes, I've been east, and I've been west,
And I've been north and south-o;
And the fairest looking creature that my eyes ever saw,
She's following the Gypsy laddie-o."
Oh he made haste, his horse and his gait,
And he followed after his lady-o;
'Twas there he spied his rich lady gay
In the arms of a dark-eyed Gypsy-o.
"Will you forsake your houses and land,
Will you forsake your children-o?
And will you forsake your own worthy lord
And follow the Gypsy laddie-o?"
"Yes I will forsake my houses and land,
And I will forsake my children-o,
And I will forsake my own worthy lord,
And follow the Gypsy laddie-o."
He stripped off the lace that she had on,
Which hung from her head to her toes-o;
He stripped her down to her flannel petticoat,
Saying, "Go to the devil with the Gypsy-o!"
This variant was collected in 1958 from Freeman Bennett of St.Paul's, NL, by Ken Peacock and published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 1, pp.194-195, by the National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
A variant was collected in 1951 from Mrs. T. Ghaney of Fermeuse, NL, and published as Roving Gypsy in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
A variant was recorded as Raggle-Taggle Gypsy by the Irish Descendants.
A variant was also recorded as The Whistling Gypsy by Leo McGuire of Dublin, Ireland, ca.1950.
