The Wicked Sister

A mother lived by the North Sea shore
 Daughters were the babes she bore
 One grew radiant as the sun
 Darkly grew the elder one
 A knight came riding to their door
 He travelled far to be their wooer
 He courted both with gold and rings
 But loved the younger o'er all things
 "Sister, won't you walk with me
 To watch the ships sail o'er the sea?"
 As they walked the rocky shore
 The dark one pushed her sister o'er
 "Sister, sister, let me live
 All that's mine I'll surely give"
 "Thy bridegroom I will take and more
 But thou shalt never come ashore"
 Off she floated like a swan
 The salt sea bore her body on
 You could not see her lily feet
 Her golden fringes were so deep
 A minstrel walking by the strand
 Saw her body float to land
 When he looked that lady on
 He sighed and made a heavy moan
 He made a harp of her breastbone
 Whose sound would melt a heart of stone
 Took the strands of her bright hair
 And with them strung his harp so rare
 He brought the harp to the wedding hall
 There to play before them all
 When they set it on a stone
 The harp began to play alone
 The strings sang out a dreadful sound
 "The bride her younger sister drowned
 Now her secret you all know
 Her guilty tears will surely flow"
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