"The Fairy Boy" (circa 1840s)
(From the Songs of the Superstitions of Ireland)
Written & Composed by
Samuel Lover

When a beautiful Child pines and dies, the Irish Peasant believes
the healthy Infant has been stolen by the Fairies and a sickly
Elf left in its place.

1.
A Mother came when Stars were paling,
Wailing round a lonely spring,
Thus she cried while tears were falling,
Calling on the Fairy king.
"Why with spells my child caressing,
Courting him with fairy joy,
Why destroy a Mother's blessing,
Wherefore steal my baby boy!"

2.
"O'er the mountain thro' the wild wood,
Where his childhood lov'd to play,
Where the flow'rs are freshly springing,
There I wander, day by day,
There I wander, growing fonder
Of the child that made my joy,
On the echos wildly calling,
To restore my Fairy boy."

3.
But in vain my plaintive calling
Tears are falling all in vain,
He now sports with fairy pleasures;
He's the treasure of their train!
Fare thee well my child for ever,
In this world I've lost my joy,
But in the next we ne'er shall aever
There find my Angel boy.