Cruel Sister

There lived a lady by the North Sea shore

Lay the bent to the bonnie broom

Two daughters were the babes she bore

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As one grew bright as is the sun

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So coal black grew the elder one

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A knight came riding to the lady's door

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He'd traveled far to be their wooer

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He courted one with gloves and rings

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But he loved the other above all things

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Oh, sister will you go with me?

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To watch the ships sail on the sea

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She took her sister by the hand

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And led her down to the North Sea strand

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And as they stood on the windy shore

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The dark girl threw her sister over

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Sometimes she sank, sometimes she swam

Lay the bent to the bonnie broom

Crying, "Sister, reach to me your hand"

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Oh, sister, sister, let me live

Lay the bent to the bonnie broom

And all that's mine I'll surely give

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Your own true love that I'll have and more

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But thou shalt never come ashore

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And there she floated like a swan

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The salt sea bore her body on

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Two minstrels walked along the strand

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And saw the maiden float to land

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They've made a harp of her breastbone

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Whose sound would melt a heart of stone

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They took three locks of her yellow hair

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And with them strung the harp so rare

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They went into her father's hall

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To play the harp before them all

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But as they laid it on the stone

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The harp began to play alone

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The first string sang a doleful sound

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The bride, her younger sister drowned

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The second string as that they tried

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In terror sits the black-haired bride

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The third string sand beneath their bow

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And surely now her tears will flow

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