My friend and musical guru Richard Scholtz, of Bellingham, Washington, sang this to me a few years ago. He learned it from Paddy Graber, of Vancouver, BC. Paddy learned it from his mother, who learned it from her mother, who learned it from her mother, so it’s been that long out of Ireland . . . truly an American (Canadian) version. Arbutus, on our west coast, is a tree that sheds its bark rather than its leaves, a member of the Madron family. The song speaks very deeply to me. I play it here on laud and the old ’cellamba. My words may have wandered a bit from Paddy’s original, which is printed here.
Our king he has a daughter fair,
Arbutus is her name,
And he has gone a-soldiering
To the court of the king of Spain,
Where her harpers sang of her gentle grace,
Her beauty and her fame,
And the Spanish king declared his love
And begged she might share his name.
Our Irish king he's hurried home
With all speed he could command,
And he has told his daughter fair
He's promised away her hand.
Her lovely eyes they filled with tears
And her cheek blushed scarlet red.
"Oh, Father dear, I can't marry him;
I'd rather you see me dead."
"But you shall do as I command,
I swear it by my sword.
Go dress yourself in bright array;
I'll hear not another word."
"Oh, but Father dear, I love a man,
Will o' Winsbro is his name,
And I'd not leave my own true love
For the hand of the king of Spain."
"But I swore you were a maiden fair,
And my chiefs did all agree.
I command you now, take off your gown
That I may examine thee."
"Oh, Father dear, don't shame me so,
I would rather you see me dead
Before I let your noble lords
Search for my maidenhead."
"Take thee off your berry-brown gown
And stand upon the stone,
For if you be a maiden or none,
The truth it must be known."
So she's taken off the berry-brown gown
And she's let the gown fall free,
But before its hem could touch the ground,
She's turned into a tree.
And her lover's turned to the gentle breeze,
Through her branches he does play.
And she has shed her soft brown bark
Until this very day.