and there,
But I haven't a share."

Nat suddenly broke off, and cried, "Hee, oh!" to the horse. It was hard
to tell whether it occurred to him that Ivo was by, or whether he had
forgotten him entirely. So much is certain, however, that this sort of
songs is by no means so injurious to the children of a village as is
generally supposed. From his very cradle, Ivo had heard all sorts of
things spoken of by their most natural designations and without the
least reserve, which to those who grow up in towns are first left
unmentioned entirely, so that ignorance stimulates curiosity, and are
then discussed in ambiguous terms, which aggravate the temptation to
evil by the additional zest of the mysterious. Thus, instead of
festering in his mind, they glided through it without leaving a trace
behind them. Nat was full of reminiscences to-day; and, after a pause,
he sang again, in a muffled voice,--

"I'm forty years to-day;
My hair is turning gray:
If none of the girls will marry me,
I'll set my house on fire;
If none of the girls will marry me,
I'll drown myself in the mire."

Immediately after, he sang again,--

"Sweetheart, sweetheart,
How is't with thee,
That thou wilt not speak to me?

"Hast thou another lover,
To make the time pass over,
Whom thou likest more than me?

"If thou likest him more than me,
I'll travel away from thee,
I'll travel away from thee.

"I travel far over distant lands,
Leave my love in another's hands,
And write her many a line;
You must know
Where I go,--
A horseman bold am I.

"I travel far over distant lands,
Leave my love in another's hands;
Oh, that is hard to do
When my love is fair and true!

"Oh, that is easily done
When love is past and gone!
To sleep without a sorrow
From the even to the morrow;
Oh, that is easily done
When love is past and gone!

"Fine cities too there are
Where I have wander'd far,--
In the Spanish Netherlands,
And in Holland and in France;
But over all this ground
My love nowhere I found.