Old Riley stole a stallion But they caught him and they brought him back And they laid him down in the jailhouse bound With an iron chain around his neck
When Riley's daughter got a message That her father was going to hang She rode by night and came by morning With gold and silver in her hand
When the judge saw Riley's daughter His old eyes deepened in his head Saying gold will never free your father The price my dear is you instead
Well I'm as good as dead cried Riley It's only you that he does crave And my skin will surely crawl If he touches you at all Get on your horse and ride away
Oh father, you will surely die If I don't take the chaance to try And pay the price, I'll not take your advise For that reason I will have to stay
The gollows shadows shook the evening In the night the hound dog bayed In the night the grounds was groaning In the night the price was paid
The next morning she had awoken To find that the judge had never spoken She saw the hanging branch a-bending She saw her father's body broken
These be seven curses on the judge so cruel That one doctor cannot save him That two healers cannot heal him And that three eyes can never see him
That four ears cannot hear him That five walls cannot hide him That six beggars cannot buy him And that seven deaths shall never kill him