Auld Robin Gray (1)/The Answer

by Anne Barnard

The A N S W E R.

I’VE got my Jenny bell to ſleep by my ſide,
I’ll ever bleſs the day I got her for my bride;
For ſhe’s but twenty-four, and I’m but ſixty-three,
⁠And yet ſhe is a kind and loving wife to me.

Young Jamie loe’d her well, & fought her for his wife,
But he went to the ſea, and there he loſt his life,
Full ſore ſhe did mourn, but it helped cou’dna be,
⁠Then I wiſh’d in my mind ſhe’d be a wife to me.

Her father got a fall by which his arm he broke,
Her mother ſhe fell ſick, and little was their ſtock,
They had but ae milk cow was ſtolen frae the byre,
⁠And my bonny Jenny Bell at working did not tyre.

Full ſore did ſhe work, and toil’d late and air,
Her parents to ſupport, but ſcanty was their fare,
I ſaid I would maintain them, if that ſhe would agree:
⁠And ever wou’d befriend them, if ſhe would marry me.

She ſaid, for to marry ſhe never did incline,
Becauſe her deareſt Jamie was ever in her mind,
She ne'er wou’d love another, ſo dear’s ſhe loved he,
⁠Therefore to my propoſal ſhe ne’er cou’d agree.

I applied to her mother, whoſe aged heart did bleed,
Becauſe that I had often ſupported them indeed;
She was loath to adviſe her, but ſaid ſhe’d happy be,
⁠If her daughter wou’d conſent to be a wife to me.

I made my Jenny preſents of ſilver broach and rings,
Yet ſtill ſhe ſhun’d my preſence for all theſe handſome things
At laſt I grew ſo ill that ſome thought I wou’d die,
⁠Then my bonny Jenny Bell came to viſit me.

As ſoon as I beheld her this charming beauty bright,
I ſaid, if ſhe wou'd marry me, I hoped yet to live,
She kindly did encourage me, ſo I grew well again,
⁠So of my bonny Jenny Bell I grew wondrous ſain.

I've cloth'd her like a lady, ſhe like a queen appears,
I'm younger like already by more than twenty years,
She uſes me ſo kindly, ſo well we do agree,
⁠No mortal lives more friendly than Jenny Bell and me.