The Pirates of Penzance (or, The Slave of Duty), Act I: When Frederic was a little lad (Ruth)

RUTH
When Frederic was a little lad
he proved so brave and daring,
His father thought he'd 'prentice him to some career seafaring.
I was, alas!
his nurs'rymaid,
and so it fell to my lot
To take and bind the promising boy apprentice to a pilot --
A life not bad for a hardy lad,
though surely not a high lot,
Though I'm a nurse,
you might do worse than make your boy a pilot.
music
I was a stupid nurs'rymaid,
on breakers always steering,
And I did not catch the word aright,
through being hard of hearing;
Mistaking my instructions,
which within my brain did gyrate,
I took and bound this promising boy apprentice to a pirate.
A sad mistake it was to make and doom him to a vile lot.
I bound him to a pirate -- you!
-- instead of to a pilot.
I soon found out,
beyond all doubt,
the scope of this disaster,
But I hadn't the face to return to my place,
and break it to my master.
A nurs'rymaid is not afraid of what you people call work,
So I made up my mind to go as a kind of piratical maid-of-all-work.
And that is how you find me now,
a member of your shy lot,
Which you wouldn't have found,
had he been bound apprentice to a pilot.
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