Misconception

What hath he done the luckless fellow

That thou wilt speak to him no more?

Are ye not of the self-same village?

Why wilt thou sister not sit down by me

And what awaitest thou to stand so long?

Look down the way no longer,

Watch the old well no longer,

But rather hearken to me the while I sing.

What hath he done, the luckless fellow

That thou wilt speak to him no more?

Are ye not of the self-same village?

Down to the riverside we went together.

He said: 'Now hearken, hearken to the wind that rustles thro' the leaves'.

I said 'O see, O see the merry sunshine that shineth thro' the wavelet'.

He said 'I love, I swear I love a woman whom thou knowest not'.

I said 'I love, I swear, I love a lad

of whom thou knowest naught'.

He said 'That woman ceaseless weeps for me'.

And I replied 'That lad awaiteth me'.

Then from the river we went hence together.

And I, I knew full well that he was my lad

And he, he surely knew

I was that woman.

But yet because of all that sunshine in the water

And of the wind that rustled thro' the leaves

We both were silent.

We kept silence both.

What hath he done the luckless fellow

That thou wilt speak to him no more?

Are ye not of the self-same village?