There lived as I've heard say
Down by a running water
An old man and his wife
Who had a beautiful daughter
So charming and so fair.
A young man loved her dearly.
He often wandered there
Through groves and fields of barley.
Lie too la loo la loo,
Toola rinktum foo nafoodle.
We leave the young folks here
And find the old lady
So busy with her tasks,
Says she, "As quick as may be
I'll take the water pail
And fetch a pail of water,"
Musing as she went
She thought upon her daughter
Lie too la loo la loo,
Toola rinktum foo nafoodle.
The old man, Tom, was there
To realize her wishes,
With hook and line and fly
To catch some little fishes.
Quite tranquil in his mind
While on the bank he's lying,
He cast his eye behind
And saw old wife a-crying.
Lie too la loo la loo,
Toola rinktum foo nafoodle.
"Oh, what's the matter, Kate?
O, what's the matter, woman?
There's something in your mind
I see, that's more than common.?
"Ah, sure," old Kate replied,
"I've had a troubled fancy.
I heard these waters roar
And thought upon our Nancy."
Lie too la loo la loo,
Toola rinktum foo nafoodle.
"If Tom and Nance should wed
And such a thing there may be,
The wedding might bring forth
A pretty little baby
And when the babe was born
And just began to waddle,
Perchance it might come here
And in this water paddle."
Lie too la loo la loo,
Toola rinktum foo nafoodle.
"And then you know, perchance
The baby might be drowned
And cast upon the shore
And afterwards be found,
And buried it might be --
That's common after dying."
"Ah, true," old Tom replied,
Then he began a-crying.
Lie too la loo la loo,
Toola rinktum foo nafoodle.
They all went crying home,
Tom, old man, wife and daughter
For fear the baby's ghost
Might cry upon the water.
They sighed and cried and mourned.
How they did weep and wail o'er
That pretty little babe
That ne'er yet was seen or heard of.
Lie too la loo la loo,
Toola rinktum foo nafoodle.
