Patrick Spence

The king sits in Dunfermline toun
 Drinking his bluid-red wine
 'Whaur can i get a mariner
 Tae sail seven ships of mine?'
 Then up spoke a fine young man
 A fine young man was he
 'Sir Patrick Spence is the best mariner
 That ever sailed on the sea'
 The king, he's written a broad letter
 And signed it wi his own hand
 And sent it off to Sir Patrick Spence
 Waiting there on the strand
 The very first line Sir Patrick read
 A little loud laugh gave he
 The very last line Sir Patrick read
 The salt tear blinded his ee
 'O wha is it that has done this thing
 And told that tale on me
 I never was a mariner
 And i don't intend to be'
 'Late yestreen i saw the new moon
 The auld moon in her arms
 I fear, i fear a deadly storm
 Oor ship, she will come to harm'
 Rise up, rise up, my fine men aw
 Oor ship, she sails in the morn,
 Whether it's windy, whether it's wet
 Or whether there's a deadly storm
 They hadn't been sailing a league or more
 A league or barely nine
 When the wind and the wet, the cauld and the snow
 Came blowing up behind
 'O where, o where's the cabin boy
 Tae take the helm in hand
 While I go up to the topmast side
 To see if I can spy some land'
 'Come doun, come doun Sir Patrick Spence
 We fear that we all must die
 For in and oot o' the good ship's hull
 The wind and the ocean fly'
 The very first step Sir Patrick took
 The water it came to his knee
 And the very last step Sir Patrick took
 He drount there in the sea
 Many was the fine feather bed
 Floating on the foam
 Many was the little lord's son
 That never more came home
 O long may the ladies sit
 Wi their fans aw in their hands
 Afore they see Sir Patrick Spence
 Come sailing along the strand
 It's fifty miles to Aberdeen shore
 It's fifty fathoms deep
 And there does lie Sir Patrick Spence
 Wi the little lords at his feet