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One night as I lay on my bed I fell into a dream,
Some rugged paths I thought I crossed and to a sheepfold came,
Down by a brook with scrip and crook a youth I did espy,
I asked his name from whence he came, he said a shepherd’s boy.
The sheepfold being on a plain, near
to a camp it lay,
The lovely lambs around their dams did fondly sport and play,
The field were green, all things there seem, to me did yield much joy,
But nothing there I could compare, to that young shepherd’s boy.
He got a pack placed on his back, a
staff in his right hand,
This very day I must obey, my father’s just command,
I asked where he was bound for, he made a quick reply,
To yonder camp I must repair although a shepherd’s boy.
My brethren I must go and see, they’re
fighting for the king,
This very hour their hearts I’ll cheer, glad tidings I’ll them
bring,
I asked him how he would get there or climb yon mount so high,
A mark he said was left to me, to guide the shepherd’s boy.
When he came into the camp there was
a terrible sight,
Two armies there they did prepare for to renew the fight,
A man six cubits and a span, his brethren did defy,
None in that place then dare him face, but the young shepherd’s boy.
The king says this Goliath does fill
our camp with awe,
Whosoever does this monster kill shall be y son in law,
Then I will go and lay him low, the youth he did reply,
Then go said he Lord be with thee, my valiant shepherd’s boy.
Then out of the brook five stones he
took, and placed them in his scrip,
Undauntedly across the lea this gallant youth did trip,
At the first blow he laid him low, cut of his head foreby,
He dropped his sling they made a king of this young shepherd’s boy.
Now to conclude and finish this wond’rous
dream of mine,
There’s none but he who is born free shall ever know the sign,
So fill your glass, round let it pass, for I am getting dry,
And toast with me the memory of the young shepherd’s boy.
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