The English and Scottish Popular Ballads Edited by Francis James Child. |
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![]() | The English and Scottish Popular Ballads | ![]() |
THE CRUEL MOTHER—O
1
There was a duke's daughter lived at York,All alone and alone a
And she fell in love with her father's clarke.
Down by the greenwood side a, side a,
Down, etc.
2
She loved him seven long years and a day,Till at last she came big-bellied away.
3
She set her back against a thorn,And there she had two pretty babes born.
4
She took out a penknife long and short,And she pierc'd these pretty babes to the tender heart.
5
So as she was walking in her father's hall,She saw three pretty babes playing at ball.
6
The one was clothed in purple, the other in pall,And the other was cloathed in no cloths at all.
7
‘O pretty babes, pretty babes, will you be mine?You shall be clothed in scarlet so fine,
And ye shall drink ale, beer and wine.’
8
‘We are three angels, as other angels be,And the hotest place in hell is reserved for thee.’
![]() | The English and Scottish Popular Ballads | ![]() |