The King of China's Daughter, She never would love me, Though I hung my cap and bells upon Her nutmeg tree. For oranges and lemons, The stars in bright blue air (I stole them long ago, my dear) Were dangling there. The Moon did give me silver pence, The Sun did give me gold, And both together softly blew And made my porridge cold; But the King of China's daughter Pretended not to see When I hung my cap and bells upon The nutmeg tree. The King of China's daughter So beautiful to see With her face like yellow water, left Her nutmeg tree. Her little rope for skipping She kissed and gave it me -- Made of painted notes of singing-birds Among the fields of tea. I skipped across the nutmeg grove, -- I skipped across the sea; But neither sun nor moon, my dear, Has yet caught me.
S. Wheeler sets stanza 1
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Text Authorship:
- by Edith Sitwell (1887 - 1964), "The King of China's Daughter" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Michael (Dewar) Head (1900 - 1976), "The King of China's daughter", 1938, published 1939, from Five Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Scott Wheeler (b. 1952), "The King of China's Daughter", 1979, stanza 1 [ voice and piano ], from Oranges and Lemons, no. 3, Scott Wheeler Music [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-04-17
Line count: 28
Word count: 148