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I
A SHIP I have got in the North Country | |
| And she goes by the name of the Golden Vanity, | |
| O I fear she’ll be taken by a Spanish Ga-la-lee, | |
| As she sails by the Low-lands low. | |
| |
II
To the Captain then upspake the little Cabin-boy, | 5 |
| He said, ‘What is my fee, if the galley I destroy? | |
| The Spanish Ga-la-lee, if no more it shall anoy, | |
| As you sail by the Low-lands low.’ | |
| |
III
‘Of silver and of gold I will give to you a’store; | |
| And my pretty little daughter that dwelleth on the shore, | 10 |
| Of treasure and of fee as well, I’il give to thee galore, | |
| As we sail by the Low-lands low.’ | |
| |
IV
Then they row’d him up tight in a black bull’s skin, | |
| And he held all in his hand an augur sharp and thin, | |
| And he swam until he came to the Spanish Gal-a-lin, | 15 |
| As she lay by the Low-lands low. | |
| |
V
He bored with his augur, he bored once and twice, | |
| And some were playing cards, and some were playing dice, | |
| When the water flowèd in it dazzled their eyes, | |
| And she sank by the Low-lands low. | 20 |
| |
VI
So the Cabin-boy did swim all to the larboard side, | |
| Saying ‘Captain! take me in, I am drifting with the tide!’ | |
| ‘I will shoot you! I will kill you!’ the cruel Captain cried, | |
| ‘You may sink by the Low-lands low.’ | |
| |
VII
Then the Cabin-boy did swim all to the starboard side, | 25 |
| Saying, ‘Messmates, take me in, I am drifting with the tide!’ | |
| Then they laid him on the deck, and he closed his eyes and died, | |
| As they sailed by the Low-lands low. | |
| |
VIII
They sew’d his body tight in an old cow’s hide, | |
| And they cast the gallant cabin-boy out over the ship side, | 30 |
| And left him without more ado to drift with the tide, | |
| And to sink by the Low-lands low. | |
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