"Willie's Lady (Child 6)" lyrics - ANAIS MITCHELL

King Willie, he sailed over the raging foam
He's wooed a wife and he's brought her home
He's brought her home all against his mother's will
His mother wrought her a wicked spell

And a wicked spell she's laid on her
She'd be with child for long and many's the year
But the child she would never bear
And in her bow she lies in pain
King Willie by her bedside he would stand
As down his cheeks sodden tears do run

King Willie, back to his mother he did run
And he's gone there as a beggin' son
Says "My true love has this fine, noble steed
The likes of which you have never seen
And at every part of this horse's mane
There's hangin' fifty silver bells and ten
Hangin' fifty bells and ten
This goodly gift shall be your own
If back to my own true love you'll turn again
So she might bear her baby son"

"Oh, of the child: she'll never lie to be
Nor from my curse will she e'er be free
But she will die and she will turn to clay
And you will wed with another maid"
And sighing, says this weary man
As back to his own true love he's gone again:
"I wish my life was at an end"

King Willie back to his mother he did run
And he's gone there as a beggin' son
Says "My true love has this fine, golden girdle
Set with jewels all about the middle
And at every part of this girdle's hem
There's hangin' fifty silver bells and ten
Hangin' fifty bells and ten
This goodly gift shall be your own
If back to my own true love you'll turn again
So she might bear her baby son
This goodly gift shall be your own

"Oh, of the child: she'll never lie to be
Nor from my curse will she e'er be free
But she will die and she will turn to clay
And you will wed with another maid"
And sighing, says this weary man
As back to his own true love he's gone again:
"I wish my life was at an end"

And up and spoke his noble Queen
And she has told King Willie of a plan
How she might bear her baby son

Says "You must go getch'ya down to the marketplace
And you must buy a ball of wax
And you must shape it as a babe that is to nurse
And you must make two eyes of glass
And ask your mother to the Christening Day
And you must stand there close as you can be
So you might hear what she does say

King Willie, he's gone down to the marketplace
He has bought a ball of wax
And he has shaped it as a babe that is to nurse
And he has made two eyes of glass
He asked his mother to the Christening Day
And he has stood there close as he could be
So he might hear what she did say

And how she spat and how she swore
She spied the babe where no babe could be before
She spied the babe where none could be before

Says "Who was it who undid the nine witch knots
Braided in amongst this lady's locks?
And who is it is who the leather shoe untied
From the left foot of this wedded bride?
And who was it split the silken thread
The spider stretched all beneath this lady's bed
The spider stretched all beneath her bed?"

And it was Willie who undid the nine witch knots
Braided in amongst this lady's locks
And it was Willie who the leather shoe untied
From the left foot of this wedded bride
And it was Willie split the silken thread
The spider stretched all beneath this lady's bed
The spider stretched all beneath her bed

And she has borne him a baby son
And great are the blessings that be then upon
Great are the blessings then upon