> The Copper Family > Songs > The Farmer in Cheshire / The Farmer From Chester
The Highwayman Outwitted / The Highwayman and the Farmer’s Daughter / The Farmer in Cheshire
[
Roud 2638
/ Song Subject MAS356
; Master title: The Highwayman Outwitted
; Laws L2
; Ballad Index LL02
; Bodleian
Roud 2638
; GlosTrad
Roud 2638
; Wiltshire
821
; Folkinfo 864
; DT CRAFTYB3
, HIOUTWIT
; Mudcat 50410
; trad.]
Bob Copper: Early to Rise The Copper Family: The Copper Family Song Book John Holloway, Joan Black: Later English Broadside Ballads Maud Karpeles: Cecil Sharp’s Collection of English Folk Songs Frank Kidson: A Garland of English Folk-Songs Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger: Travellers’ Songs From England and Scotland John Morrish: The Folk Handbook Patrick O’Shaughnessy: More Lincolnshire Folk Songs Roy Palmer: Everyman’s Book of British Ballads Frank Purslow: The Constant Lovers Sam Richards and Tish Stubbs: The English Folksinger Ken Stubbs: The Life of a Man
This ballad is from a family of ballads about robbers outwitted. In The Crafty Farmer (Roud 2640; Child 283) it is the farmer himself who is, er, crafty. In The Highwayman and the Farmer’s Daughter (Roud 2638; Laws L2) it is his daughter and in The Crafty Ploughboy (Roud 2637; Laws L1) it is the farmer’s servant boy.
Alec Bloomfield sang The Farmer From Cheshire in 1938/39 at the Eel’s Foot in Eastbridge, Suffolk. This BBC recording made by A.L. Lloyd was included in 2000 on the Veteran CD Good Order! Ladies and Gentlemen Please. Alec Bloomfield sang The Highwayman and the Farmer’s Daughter much later, in 1975, in Newark, Nottinghamshire. This recording made by Keith Summers was published in 2007 on the Musical Traditions anthology A Story to Tell. Rod Stradling noted in the accompanying booklet:
There Was a Rich Farmer at Sheffield (as it’s more usually called), or The Farmer of Chester, or The Lincolnshire Farmer’s Daughter to used the title given to the song by Henry Parker Such on his mid-19th century broadside, in common with another ballad, The Boy and the Highwayman, is related to the ballad of The Crafty Farmer (Child 283) in which a farmer outwits a would-be robber. The precise relationship between these three 18th century ballads has never been successfully established. Some scholars believe that as the central characters of the plot are different, then so too are the ballads. Others, however, believe them to be basically identical because all three ballads are sung to the same 17th century tune The Rant which, in 17th century ballad operas, was better known as Give Ear to a Frolicksome Ditty.
George ‘Pop’ Maynard sang The Rusty Highwayman in a recording made by Brian Matthews in 1960 at the Abergavenny Arms in Copthorne. His version was printed in 1970 in Ken Stubbs’ book The Life of a Man and this recording was included in 2000 on Maynard’s Musical Traditions anthology Down the Cherry Tree.
Queen Caroline Hughes sang The Rich Farmer From Chesfield to Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger in 1963 or 1966. This recording was included in 2014 on her Musical Traditions anthology Sheep-Crook and Black Dog. She also sang Catch Me, Bold Rogue, If You Can in her caravan near Blandford, Dorset on 19 April 1968. This recording by Peter Kennedy was included in 2013 on the Topic anthology of songs by Southern English gypsy traditional singers, I’m a Romany Rai (The Voice of the People Series Volume 22). Rod Stradling noted in the Musical Traditions booklet:
The Farmer of Cheshire, in common with another ballad The Boy and the Highwayman, is related to the ballad of The Crafty Farmer (Child 283) in which a farmer outwits a would-be robber. In Caroline’s version the girl escapes on the robber’s horse, which carries a saddlebag of money, previously stolen by the robbers. Most versions of the song employ a 17th century tune, The Rant, which was also known as Give Ear to a Frolicksome Ditty, a tune that is also found with some versions of both The Boy and the Highwayman and The Crafty Farmer. Roud offers 96 examples, virtually all of which are from England.
The song is widespread within the English Gypsy community and it has been suggested (by Sam Richards) that the girl’s actions reinforce the travellers’ own attitudes to a somewhat hostile world. The farmer, and his daughter, usually come from either Chester or Sheffield—accounting for Mrs Hughes’ ‘Chesfield’ perhaps. Bearing in mind the fragmentary nature of some of her songs, we should note that this one is almost completely intact.
Jimmy McBeath sang The Farmer in Cheshire in a recording made by Mike Yates in Banffshire, Scotland in 1964. It was included in 2001 in the Musical Traditions anthology of songs from the Yates Collection, Up in the North and Down in the South.
Harry Green of Tilty, Essex, sang The Merchant’s Daughter and the Highwayman to Fred Hamer in 1967. This recording was releases in c.1997/98 on his Veteran Tapes cassette Harry Green and in 2010 on the Veteran CD of Harry Green and other traditional singers from Essex, The Fox & the Hare. John Howson noted:
Harry did much of his singing locally in the Rising Sun at Duton Hill which is the next parish to Tilty. It was there he learned The Merchant’s Daughter from another regular, Bill Patent. The song is often called The Highwayman Outwitted, The Crafty Ploughboy or The Farmer From Cheshire (or some times Leicester or Sheffield). It was widely published by nineteenth century broadside printers including Such and Pitts (London), Pratt (Birmingham) and Hoggett (Durham). Ralph Vaughan Williams noted down the song in Ingrave, Essex from Emma Turner in 1903 and other recordings from East Anglian singers include Xharlie Stringer and Alec Bloomfield.
Jack Smith sang There Was a Rich Farmer in Chester on 5 November 1969 at the King’s Head Folk Club in London. This recording was included in 2012 on the Musical Traditions anthology King’s Head Folk Club.
Ewan MacColl sang The Maid of Reigate on his 1972 Argo LP Solo Flight.
Mary Ann Haynes sang The Farmer of Cheshire in a recording made by Mike Yates in 1972-75 on the 2003 Musical Traditions anthology of gypsy songs and music from South-East England, Here’s Luck to a Man.
George Deacon sang The Devonshire Farmer’s Daughter in 1973 on his and Marion Deacon’s Transatlantic album Sweet William’s Ghost. This track was also included in 2006 on Castle’s anthology of British and Irish Folk, Anthems in Eden. He noted on the first album:
One of a family of songs including The Highwaymen Outwitted and The Crafty Maid’s Policy. This version was collected in Hambridge by Lucy Broadwood. The expressions ‘shaking and bavering’ and ‘home in her white’ are nice reminders of the colour that contemporary standard English has lost.
Nelson Penfold sang The Farmer in Leicester in a recording made by Sam Richards, Tish Stubbs and Paul Wilson in 1974. It was published in 1979 on the Topic album Devon Tradition.
Amy Birch from Exbridge, Devon sang There Was an Old Man Lived in Yorkshire in a recording made by Sam Richards and Tish Stubbs in betweeen 1974 and 1980. It was included in 1981 on the Folkways album qAn English Folk Music Anthology. Richards and Stobbs noted:
This song has an extraordinary hold over the imaginations of travellers, especially in southern England. All know some of it, and those who regard themselves as singers invariably known all of it. There is a ballad, The Crafty Farmer (Child 283) which tells virtually the same story except that the farmer’s daughter’s role is taken by a “silly old man” who plays a more artful trick on the highwayman. It usually goes to a similar tune, some derivative of the 17th century The Rant.
Staverton Bridge (Sam Richards, Tish Stubbs and Paul Wilson) sang The Farmer in Leicester in 1975 om their eponymous Saydisc album Staverton Bridge. They noted:
A highwayman was a figure to be viewed with a mixture of awe, respect and admiration—as long as he was robbing the rich! The robber in this song though chooses a victim who is not rich and is moreover female. Our sympathies shift immediately.
This tale of a resourceful young girl who outwits the robber has been enormously popular for centuries and is still a prominent song in the repertoires of many country singers. Staverton Bridge’s version was learnt from various gypsy singers in Devon.
Joe Jones sang The Farmer of Chester in a recording made by Mike Yates in Kent in 1975. It was published in the same year on the Topic anthology of gypsies, travellers and country singers, Songs of the Open Road. Mike Yates notes:
The Farmer of Chester, in common with another ballad The Boy and the Highwayman, is related to the ballad of The Crafty Farmer (Child 283) in which a farmer outwits a would-be robber. The precise relationship between these three 18th century ballads has never been successfully established. Some scholars believe that as the central characters of the plot are different, then so too are the ballads. Others, however, believe them to be basically identical because all three ballads are sung to the 17th century tune The Rant which, in 17th century ballad operas, was better known as Give Ear to a Frolicksome Ditty. For some reason The Farmer of Chester is a song which has proved especially popular among gypsies, and is frequently met with today.
Bob Copper sang The Farmer From Chester at home in Peacehaven, Sussex in December 1976. This recording made by Tony Engle and Mike Yates was published a year later on his Topic album Sweet Rose in June. John Copper sang this song in May 1995 as The Farmer in Cheshire on the family’s CD Coppersongs 2.
Betsy Renals sang The Farmer from Leicester in a recording made in 1978 by Pete Coe. It was released in 1990 on the Veteran Tapes cassette and in 2003 on the Backshift/Veteran CD of songs from the Cornish Travellers family, the Orchards, Catch Me If You Can. Mike Yates noted:
The Farmer of Leicester (some singers call it The Farmer of Chester) and another song The Boy and the Highwayman are related to the ballad of The Crafty Farmer (Child 283), in which a farmer outwits a would-be robber. All three songs date to the 18th century and basically use a common 17th century tune, The Rant, which was better known as Give Ear to a Frolicksome Ditty in ballad operas. According to the folklorist Sam Richards, Betsy’s song was used by Gypsy singers to establish boundaries when they came into contact with non-Gypsies; the Travellers feeling that, like the heroine of the song, they too were equal to any potential threat that might develop.
Charlie Stringer of Wickham Skeith, Suffolk, sang The Farmer From Cheshire to John Howson in between 1985 and 1987. This recording was included in 1988 on the Veteran Tapes cassette of old songs and ballads, Songs Sung in Suffolk Vol. 3, and in 2000 on the Veteran CD Songs Sung in Suffolk. John Howson noted:
A popular song amongst travellers, which often goes under the name The Highwayman Outwitted or The Crafty Farmer. When Cecil Sharp collected it he called it The Devonshire Farmer’s Daughter, while under the name The Farmer from Leicester, Sam Richards and Tish Stubbs recorded it from Nelson Penfold in Devon, and the version Pete Coe recorded from Cornish traveller Betsy Renals can be heard on Catch Me If You Can. Its earliest appearances in print seem to have been in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Wiggy Smith sang There Was a Rich Farmer at Sheffield at the English Country Music Festival, Postlip Hall, Postlip, Gloucestershire, on 17 June 1995. This recording by Gwilym Davies and Paul Burgess was included in 1998 on the Topic anthology My Father’s the King of the Gypsies (The Voice of the People Series Volume 11). and in 2000 on the Smith Family’s Musical Traditions anthology Band of Gold. Rod Stradling noted.
Sam Richards, during his collecting of songs from travellers in the West Country (and particularly Devon), came across so many versions of what he called The Highwayman Outwitted offered during “the first encounter or first recording session with a singer” that he postulated the theory that “the singers, it seems, have picked on a song which shows how the potentially weak and powerless [themselves] are capable of looking after themselves in the face of any intrusion [the folklorist]. The content of the song, in featuring a fictional character who acts in a way that they admire and are amused by, sorts out, from the very beginning their relationship with the outsider.” (Sam Richards: Westcountry Gipsies: Key Songs and Community Identity in Michael Pickering & Tony Green (eds.) Everyday Culture: Popular Song and the Vernacular Milieu, Open University Press, Milton Keynes, 1987, p.125 & p.145). Gwilym and Paul did not experience this with Wiggy, who sang the song for them after they had met and recorded him quite a number of times.
This appears to be the only time (in Roud’s 52 examples) that Sheffield is mentioned in the title of this song—Chester, Leicester, Devonshire and Yorkshire are among the more popular locations; and the man is frequently a merchant, rather than a farmer. It’s a sad reflection on the way things were, that the gallant heroine of the piece is not even named and must be content to exist solely as the daughter of a bloke whose only contribution to the action is the offer of a dowry (and, in many versions, a truly stupid question…). Still—she does get to keep the loot. Naked women are enduringly popular, which may account for the song still being sung by country singers until quite recently—Roud notes 14 sound recordings of which those still available are Charlie Stringer (Veteran VT 103), Harry Green (Veteran VT135), Betsy Renals (Veteran VT 119), Jon Dudley (Coppersongs CD2), Jim Copper (Folktracks FSA082), Bob Copper (Folktracks 90-239) and Alec Bloomfield (Folktracks FSA099).
Jane and Amanda Threlfall sang Highwayman Outwitted on their 2002 CD Gown of Green.. They noted:
Sung by Mrs Kate Thompson of Knaresborough, and published in A Garland of English Folk-Songs (1926) by Frank Kidson, this song is sometimes known as The Farmer’s Daughter. It’s probably derived from the street ballad The Crafty Ploughboy, which is based on a true incident which took place in the 1760s. Broadsheets were sold with the story in ballad form, during which time it seems almost inevitable that the original ploughboy should eventually became a female character—if only to boost sales. The song was widely collected in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The tune is similar to The Rant, from John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1727).
Chris Bartram sang The Ruffian Robber on his 2005 album Yorkie. He noted:
[…] There’s hyperbole and surreal imagery in The Crocodile, and Three Yorkshiremen; echoes of the archetypal Trickster in Ben Was a Hackney Coachman Rare; The Yorkshire Horse-Dealer and Ruffian Robber; cheating and poetic justice in Abergronw and Marrowbones.
Bob Lewis sang The Rusty Highwayman at the Fife Traditional Singing Festival, Collessie, Fife in May 2009. This recording was published a year later on his festival CD Drive Sorrows Away.
Rachael McShane sang The Highwayman Outwitted in 2009 on her Navigator CD No Man’s Fool.
Liz Davenport sang The Rich Farmer from Sheffield in 2011 on her and Paul Davenport’s Hallamshire Traditions CD Spring Tide Rising. They noted:
Liz’ traveller roots are showing here. Often we neglect the songs of childhood thinking them less worthy. Fortunately some reflection brings forth gems like this song. Apart from the name of the cutlery on the table, this song was pretty much all Liz knew about Sheffield as a girl. Although several of the Smith family sang this, the version closest to Liz’s version is probably that sung by Wiggy Smith who can be beard on Topic’s seminal collection, My Father’s the King of the Gypsies (The Voice of the People Series Volume 11).
Andy Turner sang The Farmer in Leicester as the 3 March 2013 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week.
Pete Coe sang The Highwayman Outwitted in 2014 on his ans Alice Jones’s album of songs collected by Frank Kidson, The Search for Five Finger Frank. They noted:
A Garland of English Folk-Songs, FSSJ9. Sung by Kate Thompson, a charlady from Knaresborough.
Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne sang Highway Robber on his 2024 album of English Folk Song in the Caribbean and Black America, Play Up the Music!. He noted:
This is one of three ballads in the English folk canon on the theme of an outwitted highwayman, the other two being The Crafty Ploughboy (Roud 2637) and The Crafty Farmer (Roud 2640; Child 283); it has been suggested that these three began as a single song, with the earliest known examples of the story dating to the late eighteenth century. This version comes from Jim Morse’s book Folk Songs of the Caribbean—Morse tells us little about the provenance of this song, other than that it was collected in the British Virgin Islands.
Lyrics
Alec Bloomfield sings The Farmer From Cheshire
There was an old farmer in Cheshire
To market his daughter did go
And thinking that no one would harm her
For she’d often been that way before
(repeat last two lines of each verse)
But this time she met with a Highwayman
His pistol he drew to her breast
Saying, “Deliver your money your clothing.
Or you will die in distress.”
Now he stripped the damsel stark naked
And he gave her the reigns for to hold
And there she stood shivering and shaking
Almost frozen to death in the cold
Then she put her right foot in the stirrups
And saddled her horse like A man
Over hedges and ditches she galloped
crying get me you rogue if you can
Now the rogue he so quickly followed after
And he made his old horse puff and blow
And finding he couldn’t overtake her
For she reached her father’s own door
“Oh daughter, oh daughter what’s happened?
You’ve been at the market so long”
“Oh father, I have been in great danger,
But the rogue he has done me no harm.”
Then she put her old horse in the stable,
And gave him some corn and some hay
And then she sat counting the money,
From midnight to twilight next day
Caroline Hughes sings The Rich Farmer From Chesfield
O there were a rich farmer lived in Chesfield,
O to market his daughter did go;
She were thinking that nothing would happen,
O she’d been on the highway before.
Well, she met with three daylighted robbers
And three links did they hold to her breast;
“You’ll deliver me your money and clothes,
Or else you shall die in distress.”
Well, they stripped the poor damsule stark naked,
And they gave her the bridle to hold;
And there she stood shivering and shaking,
Much perished to death by the cold.
Well, she slipped her right foot in the stirrup,
And she mounted her horse like a man;
Over hedges and ditches she galloped:
“Come, catch me, bold rogues, af you can!”
Well, she rid to the gates of her father,
O she shouted - her voice like a man:
“Dear father, I’ve been in great danger,
But the old rogues didn’t do me no harm.”
Well, she whipped the grey mare in the stable,
And the white sheet she spread on the floor;
She counted her money twice over,
She had five-hundred bright pounds, if not more;
But the old rogue, he done her no harm.
Harry Green sings The Merchant’s Daughter and the Highwayman
It’s of an old merchant’s fair daughter,
And she to the market did go,
And thinking that no one would harm her,
Oft times she had been to and fro.
The first that she met was an old highwayman,
He gave her a terrible blow,
“The girl you may patiently take it,
For I mean to have money or clothes.”
He stripped this poor girl stark naked,
And gave her his horse for to hold,
And while she stood shivering and shaking,
These words then to herself were then told.
She whipped her foot into the stirrup,
And she mounted the saddle like a man,
And she galloped over hills and high mountains,
Saying, “Catch me, kind sir, if you can.”
The old highwayman he scampered,
He ran and he puffed and he blew,
He ran but he could not overtake her,
For his boots they did hamper him so.
She led him through plains and through valleys,
The paths that she knew very well,
She left him a parcel of farthings,
A sum worth five shillings to tell.
She rode ‘til she came to her father’s own house,
Quite seven or eight by the clock,
What did surprise her poor old father,
Was to see her ride home in her smock.
“Dear daughter where have you been tarrying,
Where have you been tarrying so long?”
“Dear father I have been robb-ed,
But I have not received any harm.”
They whipped the horse into the stable,
They searched that poor mantle all around,
And there they found as much silver and gold,
Which amounted to three thousand pound.
“Three thousand pound is a good fortune,
Dear daughter I’ll give you two more,
Saying five thousand is a good fortune,
For to keep the wild wolf from your door.”
And now she’s a lady of honour,
And she in her carriage does ride,
And servants for to wait upon her,
And a footman to ride by her side,
And servants for to wait upon her,
And a footman to ride by her side.
Amy Birch sings There Was an Old Man Lived in Yorkshire
There was an old man live in Yorkshire
And to market his daughter did go
She was afraid or a-fear of no danger
Because she’s been on the highway before
Well she met with a bold highway robber
And three chambers he drew from his breast
Saying: Give me your money or clothing
Or else you will die in distress
Well he stripped that young lady stark naked
And he gave her the bridle to hold
There she bade there a-shivering and shaking
Almost frozen the death with the cold
She put her left foot in the stirrup
And she mounted her horse like a man
Over hedges and ditches she galloped
Saying: Catch me bold rogue if you can
She rode to the gates of her father
And she shouted all over the farm
Saying: Father I’ve been in quite danger
But that bold rogue he’s done me no harm
She put her white horse in the stable
And she spread a white sheet on the floor
And from under the flap of her saddle
She took five thousand pounds or maybe more
Joe Jones sings The Farmer of Chester
There was an old farmer in Chester,
To market his daughter did go;
Thinking there’s nothing should happen,
O way she had been there to and fro.
She met with three awful highwaymen,
Three pistols they held to her breast.
They stripped the fair damsel stark naked,
She gave them her horse for to hold.
She put the left leg in the stirrup,
She mounted her horse like a man.
Over hedges and ditches she galloped,
“You catch me you bold rogues if you can.”
The rogues they could not overtake her,
It caused them to puff and to blow;
Her horse never ceased of its galloping
’Till she got to her great father’s home.
“Dear daughter, dear daughter, what’s happened?
What’s made this late market today?”
“Dear father I’ve been in great danger,
But the rogues they’ve not done me no harm.”
She put the white horse in the stable,
She spread the white sheet on the floor.
Ten thousands of pounds she did count so,
To keep the cold wind from the door.
Bob Copper sings The Farmer in Cheshire
There was an old farmer in Cheshire,
To market his daughter did go;
And thinking that no-one would harm her
As she’d oft-times been that road before.
(Repeat last two lines of each verse.)
Her business at the market being ended
And all her fine goods being sold,
Her journey back homewards she wended,
Her pockets well lined with gold.
She met with a rusty highwayman
Two pistols he held to her breast,
Saying, “Deliver your money, your clothing,
Or else you shall die in distress.”
She, being a buxom young damsel,
Dismounted as though unafraid,
One slash from her whip sent him sprawling
And his pistols she took as he laid.
She put her left foot in the stirrup
And mounted her horse like a man,
Then shouted back over her shoulder,
“Catch me you old rogue if you can.”
The rogue he soon follow-ed after
But began for to puff and to blow,
Then seeing he could not overtake her
Sat down full of sorrow and woe.
Her father being anxious about her
And finding ’twas getting quite late,
When hoof-beats he heard fast approaching
As she galloped up to the farm gate.
“O daughter, O daughter, what’s happened,
What kept you at the market so long?”
“O father, I fell in great danger,
But the rogue he has done me no wrong.”
She put her grey horse in the stable
And laid a white cloth on the floor.
They counted her money a thousand,
A thousand, yes a thousand times o’er.
Betsy Renals sings The Farmer from Leicester
There was an old farmer in Leicester,
Had a daughter to market did go;
She was never afraid of no danger,
’Cos she’d been on the highway before.
Till she met with a bold and young robber,
Six chamber he held to her breast;
Saying, “Deliver your money and clothing,
Or else you shall die in distress.”
He stripped the young damsel stark naked,
And the bridle rein gave her to hold;
And there she’s such shivering and shaking,
And starving to death with the cold.
She put her left foot in the stirrup,
And she mounted her horse like a man;
Over hedges and ditches she galloped,
Saying, “Catch me bold rogue if you can.”
She rode to the gates of her father’s,
And shouted all over the farm;
Saying, “Dear father I’ve been in great danger,
But the rogue he have done me no harm.”
She pulled her grey mare in the stable,
And she spread her white sheet on the floor;
And counted the money twice over,
There were three thousand pounds if not more.
Charlie Stringer sings The Farmer From Cheshire
There was a rich farmer in Cheshire,
And his daughter to market would go.
Thinking of no harm or danger,
For she’d been on the highway before.
She met with an uncivil roadster,
Two pistols he drew from his side.
Saying, “Deliver up your money and clothing,
Or you will die in distress.”
He stripped that poor lady stark naked,
But she mounted that mare like a man;
She galloped over hedgerows and ditches,
’Til she came to her father’s door.
“O daughter, O daughter, what’s happened?
Why stayest you late from the fair?”
“O father, I have been in great danger,
But the villain has done me no harm.”
She put the grey mare in the stable,
And spread the white cloth on the floor.
She counted her money twice over,
And she counted a thousand and more.
But now she’s a carriage to ride in,
And a coachman to ride by her side,
Servants to wait at the table,
And plenty of money besides.
Wiggy Smith sings There Was a Rich Farmer at Sheffield
O, there was a rich farmer at Sheffield,
And to market his daughter did go
His daughter not being afraid though
She’d been on the highway-oh before.
She met with three bold-faced … they was robbers,
Three pistols they held at her breast
“For it’s money and clothery we declare,
’r else we’ll take your sweet life in distress.”
They ripped the poor girl stark naked
And they gave her the bridle to hold
“Now it’s money and clothes we declare
Else we’ll take your sweet life in distress.”
She put her left leg in the stirrup
And she mounted her horse like a man
It’s over hedges and ditches she galloped,
“Now come catch me bold rogues if you can.”
She rode to the gates of her father,
And she shouted all over the farm
“Dear Father, I’ve been in great danger
But those rogues they hanna done me no harm.”
She put her grey mare in the stable,
And she spread the white sheet on the floor
She counted her money twice over
Five hundred bright pounds and some more.
He said, “Dear daughter, if you have that fortune,
On top of that I will give you more,
And if ever you live to get married,
It’ll keep the cold wind from your door.”