Jack Orion was as good fiddler as ever fiddled on a string
And he could drive young women mad by the tune his wires would sing
But he would fiddle the fish out of salt water, water from bare marble stone
Or the milk from out of a maiden's breast though baby she had none
And there he played in the castle hall and there he played them fast asleep
Except it was for the young countess and for love she stayed awake
And first he played there a slow slow air and then he played it brisk and gay
And it's, "O dear love," behind her hand the lady she did say
"Ere the day has dawned and the co*ks have crown and flapped their wings so wide
It's you must come up to me chamber there and lie down by me side"
So he lapped his fiddle in a cloth of green and he stole out on his tip toe
And he's off back to his young boy Tom as fast as he could go
"Ere the day has dawned and the co*ks have crown and flapped their wings so wide
I'm bid to go up to that lady's door and stretch out by her side"
"Lie down, lie down, me good master and here's a blanket to your hand
And I'll waken you in as good a time as any co*k in the land"
So Tom took the fiddle into his hand and he fiddled and he sang for a full hour
Until he played him fast asleep and he's off to the lady's bower
And when he come to the countess' door he twirled so softly at the pin
And the lady true to her promise rose up and let him in
Well he did not take that lady gay to bolster nor to bed but down
Upon the hard cold bedroom floor right soon he had her laid
And neither did he kiss her when he came nor when from her he did go
But in at the lady's bedroom window the moon like a coal did glow
"Oh ragged are your stockings love and stubbly is your cheek and chin
And tousled is that yellow hair that I saw late yestre'en"
"Me stockings belong to my boy Tom but they were the first came to my hand
And the wind did tousle me yellow hair as I rode over the land"
Tom took the fiddle into his hand and he fiddled and he played so saucily
And he's off back to his master's house as fast as go could he
"Then up then up my good master why snore you there so loud for there
Is not a co*k in all this land but has clapped his wings and crowed"
Jack Orion took the fiddle into his hand and he fiddled and he played so merrily
And he's off away to the lady's house as fast as go could he
And when he come to the lady's door he twirled so softly at the ring
Saying, "Oh me dear it's your true love, rise up and let me in"
She said "Surely you didn't leave behind a golden brooch nor a velvet glove
Or are you returned back again to taste more of me love?"
Jack Orion he swore a bloody oath by oak, by ash, by bitter thorn
"Lady I never was in this room since the day that I was born"
"Oh then it was your own boy Tom that cruelly has beguiled me
And woe that the blood of that ruffian boy should spring in my body"
Jack Orion took off to his own house saying, "Tom my boy come here to me"
And he hanged that boy from his own gatepost as high as the willow tree