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Old Reilly stole a stallion |
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But they caught him and they brought him back |
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And they laid him down on the jailhouse ground |
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With an iron chain around his neck. |
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Old Reilly's daughter got a message |
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That her father was goin' to hang. |
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She rode by night and came by morning |
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With gold and silver in her hand. |
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When the judge he saw Reilly's daughter |
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His old eyes deepened in his head, |
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Sayin', "Gold will never free your father, |
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The price, my dear, is you instead." |
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"Oh I'm as good as dead," cried Reilly, |
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"It's only you that he does crave |
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And my skin will surely crawl if he touches you at all. |
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Get on your horse and ride away." |
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"Oh father you will surely die |
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If I don't take the chance to try |
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And pay the price and not take your advice. |
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For that reason I will have to stay." |
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The gallows shadows shook the evening, |
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In the night a hound dog bayed, |
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In the night the grounds were groanin', |
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In the night the price was paid. |
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The next mornin' she had awoken |
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To know that the judge had never spoken. |
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She saw that hangin' branch a-bendin', |
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She saw her father's body broken. |
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These be seven curses on a judge so cruel: |
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That one doctor will not save him, |
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That two healers will not heal him, |
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That three eyes will not see him. |
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That four ears will not hear him, |
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That five walls will not hide him, |
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That six diggers will not bury him |
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And that seven deaths shall never kill him |
