Page:Poems that every child should know (ed. Burt, 1904).djvu/224

186 The Well of St. Keyne.

there is in the west country,

And a clearer one never was seen;

There is not a wife in the west-country

But has heard of the Well of St. Keyne.

An oak and an elm tree stand beside,

And behind does an ash tree grow,

And a willow from the bank above

Droops to the water below.

A traveller came to the Well of St. Keyne:

Pleasant it was to his eye,

For from cock-crow he had been travelling

And there was not a cloud in the sky.

He drank of the water so cool and clear,

For thirsty and hot was he,

And he sat down upon the bank,

Under the willow tree.

There came a man from the neighbouring town

At the well to fill his pail;

On the well-side he rested it,

And bade the stranger hail.

"Now, art thou a bachelor, stranger?" quoth he,

"For an if thou hast a wife,

The happiest draught thou hast drunk this day

That ever thou didst in thy life.