Scarborough Fair, who does not know the tune? Simon and Garfunkel made it a well-known tune in the seventies. The original, however, is way older. This English riddle song -the text is below- indicates the troubles you might get in getting a lost lover back…
Where are you going? To Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Remember me to a bonny lass there,
For once she was a true lover of mine.
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Without any needle or thread work’d in it,
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell her to wash it in yonder well,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Where water ne’er sprung nor a drop of rain fell,
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell her to plough me an acre of land,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Between the sea and the salt sea strand,
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell her to plough it with one ram’s horn,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And sow it all over with one pepper corn,
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell her to to reap it with a stickle of feather,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And tie it all up with a tomtit’s feather,
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell her to gather it all in a sack,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And carry it home on a butterfly’s back,
And then she shall be a true lover of mine.
Will this relation ever be on again…?