Come all ye jolly mariners
That love to tak' a dram
I'll tell ye o' a robber
That o'er the seas did come
He wrote a letter to his king
On the eleventh of July
To see if he wad accept o' him
For his jovial company
"Oh na, oh na," says the king
"Oh that can never be
They tell me that ye are a robber
A robber on the sea"
He has built a bonnie ship
An' sent her to the sea
Wi' fower and twenty mariners
To man his bonnie ship wi'
They sailed up an' they sailed doon
Sae stately, blythe, an' free
Till they spied the kings high Reindeer
Like a leviathan on the sea
"Why lie here, ye tinker
Ye silly coordly thief?
Why like here, ye tinker
An' hold oor king in grief?"
They fought from one in the morning
Till it was six at night
Until the king's high Reindeer
Was forced to tak' her flight
Gae hame, gae hame, ye tinkers
Tell ye your king fae me
Though he reign king upon good dry land
I will reign king upon sea