She Moved Through the Fair

This traditional song recounts the painful mystery of a love unfulfilled. The song's narrator shares a moment with his lover at the fair where she promises togetherness as her family have accepted him. However, the lover only ever returns as a haunting dream, suggesting the young woman's family may have been lying, or that she perhaps met with a darker fate. The song is performed here by Patrick Dexter.

She Moved Through the Fair

My love said to me My Mother won't mind
And me Father won't slight you For your lack of kind
Then she stepped away from me And this she did say
It will not be long love 'Til our wedding day.

She stepped away from me And she moved through the Fair And fondly I watched her Move here and move there
And she went her way homeward With one star awake
As the swans in the evening Move over the lake

The people were saying No two e'er were wed
But one has a sorrow That never was said
And she smiled as she passed me With her goods and her gear
And that was the last That I saw of my dear.

I dreamed it last night That my true love came in
So softly she entered Her feet made no din
She came close beside me And this she did say
It will not be long love Till our wedding day.