1. A sailor went a-courting
  all in the month of May,
He courted a fair lady so charming and so gay.
But the father of his sweetheart,
  he did make much strife,
And would not allow his daughter
  to be a sailor's wife.

2. The sailor sailed away
  to the far off coast of Spain,
In hopes of some good fortune or riches to gain.
He bought a prince's robe
  with a star upon his breast,
And sailed away back home
  to the girl he loved best.

3. He landed in the wharf,
  so I have heard them say,
After he had been absent five years and a day.
With the star upon his breast,
  he went to see his love again,
And her father was pleased
  with the young prince of Spain.

4. He made a great feast,
  as the wedding day drew near,
Of the young prince of Spain
  and his daughter so dear.
And while the social glasses
  passed merrily around,
He paid off his daughter
  with ten thousand pounds.

5. Then up spoke the sailor,
  “This is my happy day,
For I'm the jolly sailor you once turned away.
And by such good fortune
  you've now crowned my life,
I have ten thousand pounds
  and a beautiful wife!”

6. “You may go to the devil,” her father replied.
“I wish you had been drowned
  in the ocean so wide.
If I had mistrusted that this was your plot,
Not one single farthing
  from me would you have got.”