[GUENEVERE]
What do the simple folk do
To help them escape when they're blue?
The shepherd who is ailing,
The milkmaid who is glum,
The cobbler who is wailing
From nailing
His thumb?
When they're beset and besieged,
The folk not noblessly obliged,
However do they manage to shed their weary lot?
Oh, what do simple folk do
We do not?
[ARTHUR]
I have been informed by those who know them well,
They find relief in quite a clever way:
When they're sorely pressed, they whistle for a spell,
And whistling seems to brighten up their day,
And that's what simple folk do,
So they say.
[GUENEVERE]
They whistle?
[ARTHUR]
So they say.
[BOTH WHISTLE]
[GUENEVERE]
What else do the simple folk do
To pluck up the heart and get through?
The wee folk and the grown folk
Who wander to and fro
Have ways known to their own folk
We throne folk
Don't know.
When all the doldrums begin,
What keeps each of them in his skin?
What ancient native custom provides the needed glow?
Oh, what do simple folk do?
Do you know?
[ARTHUR]
Once, upon the road, I came upon a lad
Singing in a voice three times his size.
When I asked him why, he told me he was sad,
And singing always made his spirits rise,
And that's what simple folk do,
I surmise.
[GUENEVERE]
They sing?
[ARTHUR]
I surmise.
[BOTH]
Arise, my love, arise, my love
Apollo's lighting the skies, my love
The meadows shine with columbine
And daffodils blossom away
Hear Venus call to one and all
Come taste delight while you may
The world is bright and all is right
And life is merry and gay.
[GUENEVERE]
What else do the simple folk do?
They must have a system or two.
They obviously outshine us
At turning tears to mirth,
Have tricks a royal highness
Is minus
From birth.
What, then, I wonder, do they
To chase all the goblins away?
They have some tribal sorcery you haven't mentioned yet.
Oh, what do simple folk do
To forget?
[ARTHUR]
Often, I am told, they dance a fiery dance,
And whirl till they're completely uncontrolled.
Soon the mind is blank, and all are in a trance,
A violent trance astounding to behold,
And that's what simple folk do,
So I'm told.
[BOTH DANCE]
[GUENEVERE]
What else do the simple folk do
To help them escape when they're blue?
[ARTHUR]
They sit around and wonder what royal folk would do,
And that's what simple folk do.
[GUENEVERE]
Oh, no, really?
[ARTHUR]
I have it on the best authority.
[BOTH]
Yes, that's what simple folk do.