Maddy Prior & June Tabor Follow

The Game of Cards

As I was a-walking one midsummer's morning
I heard the birds whistle and the nightingales play.
And there did I spy a beautiful maiden
As I was a-walking all on the highway.

“O where are you going, my fair pretty lady?
O where are you going so early this morn?”
She said: “I'm going down to visit my neighbours;
I'm going down to Warwick, the place I was born.”

It's “May I come with you, my sweet pretty darling?
May I go along in your sweet company?”
Then she turned her head and smiling all at me
Saying: “You may come with me, kind sir, if you please.”

We hadn't been walking but a few miles together
Before this young damsel began to show free.
She sat herself down, saying: “Sit down beside me,
And the games we shall play shall be one, two and three.”

I said: “My dear lady, if you're fond of the gaming
There's one game I know I would like you to learn.
The game it is called: The Game of All Fours.”
So I took out my pack and began the first turn.

She cut the cards first and I fell a-dealing.
I dealt her a trump and myself the poor jack.
She led off her ace and stole my jack from me,
Saying: “Jack is the card I like best in your pack.”

“Since I dealt them last time, it's your turn to shuffle
And my turn to show the best card in the pack.”
Once more she'd the ace and the deuce for to beat me,
Once again I had lost when I laid down poor jack.

So I took up my hat and I bid her: “Good morning,”
I said: “You're the best that I know at this game.”
She answered: “Young man, if you'll come back to-morrow
We'll play the game over and over again.”