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The Rusty Highwayman
Bob Lewis: On Autumn Harvest ah09: Bob Lewis: Drive Sorrows Away. Recorded at the Fife Traditional Singing Festival May 2009.
On her way to market a farmer's daughter is held up by a highwayman. He robs her and strips her stark naked and forces her to stand shivering beside his horse. With a sudden move she mounts the highwayman's horse and gallops away. Arriving home, she and her father open the saddlebags to reveal untold riches. The song is known widely in Britain and North America and under several titles - The Cheshire Farmer, The Highwayman Outwitted or Catch me Bold Rogue if You Can (Roud 2638; Laws L2).
1: In Cheshire there lived an old farmer,
His daughter to market did go;
A-thinking that no one would harm her,
As she travelled the roads to and fro.
 A-thinking that no one would harm her,
As she travelled the roads to and fro.
2: She met with a rusty highwayman,
Two pistols he clasped to her breast;
Saying, “Deliver your money and clothing,
Or else you will die in distress.”
3: Now he stripped this fair damsel stark naked,
And he gave her the reigns for to hold;
And there she stood shivering and shaking,
Almost perished to death with the cold.
4: She put her left foot in the stirrup,
And she mounted the horse like a man;
Over hedges and ditches she galloped,
Crying, “Catch me you rogue if you can.”
5: Now this rogue he soon followed after,
It caused him to puff and to blow;
Till he found he could not overtake her,
He was forced for to let this maid go.
6: “Dear daughter, dear daughter what's the matter?
What’s kept youy so loing from the farm;
“Well, I met with a rusty highwayman,
But the rogue he has done me no harm.”
7: Now they put his grey mare in the stable,
And spread a white cloth on the ground;
And counted his money by thousands,
Ten thousands and thousands of pounds.
8: “Dear daughter, that’s a very large fortune,
It’ll help keep the wolf from the door;
And if ever you live to get married,
Why, I’ll give you twice as much more.”
And if ever you live to get married,
I’ll give you twice as much more.”
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c p 2010 Autumn Harvest : www.springthyme.co.uk
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