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(Traditional Lyrics)

There was a king, a glorious king,

a king of noble fame

And he had daughters

only one,

Lady Diamond was her name

He had a boy, a kitchen boy,

a boy of muckle scorn

She loved him long, she loved him aye,

'til the grass o'ergrew the corn

When twenty weeks were gone and past,

oh, she began to greet

her petticoat & skirts grew short

and her stays they would not meet

It fell upon a winter's night,

the king felt some strange fear

He came unto his daughter dear,

pulled back the curtains long

"What aileth thee that you shed tear,

I worry you've been wronged"

"Oh, if I have,

despise me not,

for he is all my joy

I will forsake both

Dukes and Earls

and marry your kitchen boy"

"Oh, bring to me my merry men

all by thirty and three

Oh, bring to me my kitchen boy,

we'll murder him secretly"

Cut the heart from out of his breast,

put it in a cup of gold

presented to his Diamond dear,

for she was both stout & bold

She took the cup

out from their hands

set it at her bed

She washed it with

her tears that fell

by next morning she was dead

"Oh, where were you, my merry men,

who I gave meat and wage

That you didn't stay my cruel hand

when I was in a rage?

For gone is all my heart's delight,

oh, gone is all my joy

For my dear Diamond, she is dead,

likewise my kitchen boy"