The King and the Tinkler/The King and the Tinkler

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THE KING AND THE TINKER.

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AND now to be breef
And pass our the rest
And come to this joke
⁠Which is now to be past;
And come to King James,
⁠The first on the throne,
A pleasenter Monarch
⁠Sure never was known.

Once he went a chacing
⁠The fair fallow deer,
Where he dropt all his nobles
⁠And of them got clear;
In search of new pleasures
⁠Away he did ride,
Till he came to an ale-house
⁠Hard by a wood side:

And there with a bold Tinkler
⁠He happened to meet.
Who in this kind manner
⁠Did lovingly greet,
What have you got laddie
⁠Into your brown mug,
That under your arm
⁠You so lovingly hug.

In troth, said the Tinkler,
⁠Its naping brpwn ale.
And for to drink with you
⁠In troth I’ll not fail;
For altho’ that ycur jecket
⁠Seems glorious and fine.
Yet I hope that my twopence
⁠Is as good as thine.
And by myself laddie.
⁠The truth you have spoke.
So the king and the Tinkler
⁠Began for to joke:
He call’d for a Pitcher
⁠The Tinkler another.
So at it they went
⁠Like brother and brother.
While drinking, the King
⁠Was pleased to say,
What news honest laddie
⁠What news I do pray;
No news, said the Tinkler
⁠No news I do bear,
But the King’s gone a hunting
⁠His fair fallow Deer.
And Oh! if that I,
⁠So happy might be.
While the King’s gone a hunting,
⁠His Grace I might see;
For I’ve travelld the country
⁠And land many ways,
Yet, I never saw a King
⁠In all my whole days.

Oh! then, said the King,
⁠If you can but ride,
It's here in the ale-house
⁠We’ll not long abide;
You’ll get up behind me
⁠And you I will bring
Into the Royal Presence
⁠of Jamie your King.

But, perhaps, said the Tinkler,
⁠they'll be so grandly drest,
That I'll not know the king
⁠Among all the rest:
They will but I tell you,
⁠When you come there.
The king he'll be covered
⁠And the Nobles all bare.

Then up got the Tinkler,
⁠And hosted the black,
With his Budgets of leather
⁠And tools on his back;
And when that they came
⁠To the merry green wood,
The nobles came round them
⁠and bare-headed stood.

The Tinkler, then seeing
⁠So many appear,
Immediately whisper'd
⁠Into the king’s ear,
They seem all to me
⁠So gallant and gay,
Now which,is the King
⁠Come tell me I pray.

The king then he made
⁠The tinker reply,
An’ by my deed ladie
⁠It must be thee or I:
Don't you see the Nobles
⁠Uncovered all round;
This said with his budgets
⁠He fell to the ground.

Like one that is frightened
⁠Then out of his wits,
Immediately then on
⁠His knees he then gets,
Beseeching his mercy,
⁠The king to him said,
Thou art a good fellow.
⁠So don't be afraid,

Oh! Pardon, Oh! Pardon,
⁠Oh! Pardon, he cries;
Your Majesty’s Pardon,
⁠I beg Earnestly;
For if I have offended
⁠I beg of your grace.
To grant me your Pardon
⁠Ere I leave this place.

You’ll, tell me your name,
⁠It’s John O’ the Vail,
A mender of kettles
⁠And a lover of ale:
But if I had a known
⁠You our king for to be,
I would have us’d you
⁠With more Courtesy,

Oh! Pardon, Oh! Pardon
⁠Again he yet cries,
Your Majesty’s Pardon
⁠I beg Earnestly:
Come rise up Sir John,
⁠I’ll honour you here.
I’ll make a Knight
⁠Of three hundred a-year.

And was not this good news
⁠For the Tinkler indeed,
And then to the court
⁠He was sent for with speed;
Where store of great pleasure
⁠And pastimes are seen,
In the Royal Presence
⁠Of our King and Queen.