Go tell him to clear me one acre of ground
Setherwood, sale, rosemary, and thyme
Betwixt the sea and the sealand side
And then he'll be a true lover of mine

Go tell him to plough it with a plough of old leather
Setherwood, sale, rosemary, and thyme
And hoe it all over with a pea-fowl's feather
And then he'll be a true lover of mine

Go tell him to plant it with one grain of corn
Setherwood, sale, rosemary, and thyme
And reap it all down with an old ram's horn
And then he'll be a true lover of mine

Go tell her to make me a cambric shirt
Setherwood, sale, rosemary, and thyme
Without any needle or needle's work
And then she'll be a true lover of mine

Go tell her to wash it in yonders well
Setherwood, sale, rosemary, and thyme
Where never was water nor rain never fell
And then she'll be a true lover of mine

Go tell her to hang it on yonders thorn
Setherwood, sale, rosemary, and thyme
Which never bore flower since Adam was born
And then she'll be a true lover of mine

abc | midi | pdf

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Source: 80 English Folk Songs. Collected by Cecil Sharp & Maud Karpeles

Notes:
Sung by Mrs Cis Jones at Manchester, Clay County, Kentuckey

Karpeles notes:
This ballad is one of the many examples of folk stories in which two people vie with one another in asking riddles or imposing impossible tasks on each other. The one who fails to find an answer or make an equivalently difficult counter-demand usually has to submit to the will of the other.


Roud: 12 (Search Roud index at VWML) Take Six
Laws:
Child: 2

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Related Songs:  Acre of Land (My father had an) (thematic) Scarborough Fair (thematic)