The Maypole

Come lasses and lads,
Take leave of your dads,
Away to the Maypole hey;
For every he has got a she
With a Minstrel standing by:
For Willy has gotten his Jill,
And Johnny has got his Joan,
To jigg it, jigg it, jigg it, jigg it,
Jigg it up and down.

‘Y’are out’ says Dick,
‘Tis a lie,’ says Nick,
‘The fiddler played it false.’
‘Tis true,’ says Hugh, and so says Sue,
And so says nimble Alice.
The fiddler then began
To play the tune again,
And every girl did trip it, trip it,
Trip it to the men.

Yet there they sat,
Until it was late 
And tired the fiddler quite,
With singing and playing, without any paying
From morning until night.
They told the fiddler then
They’d pay him for his play,
And each a two-pence, two-pence, two-pence,
Gave him and went away.
 

‘Goodnight,’ says Tom,
And so says John,
‘Goodnight,’ says Dick to Will,
‘Goodnight,’ says Sis, ‘Goodnight,’ says Pris,
‘Goodnight,’ says Peg to Nell.
Some run, some went, some stayed,
Some dallied by the way,
And bound themselves, by kisses twelve,
To meet next holiday.