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The English and Scottish Popular Ballads

Edited by Francis James Child.

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133

The Miller's Melody; or, The Drowned Lady

THE TWA SISTERS—L

[_]

a. From oral tradition, Notes and Queries, 1st S., v, 316. b. The Scouring of the White Horse, p. 161. From North Wales.

1

O was it eke a pheasant cock,
Or eke a pheasant hen,
Or was it the bodye of a fair ladye,
Come swimming down the stream?

2

O it was not a pheasant cock,
Nor eke a pheasant hen,
But it was the bodye of a fair ladye
Came swimming down the stream.
[OMITTED]

3

And what did he do with her fair bodye?
Fal the lal the lal laral lody
He made it a case for his melodye.
Fal, etc.

4

And what did he do with her legs so strong?
He made them a stand for his violon.

5

And what did he do with her hair so fine?
He made of it strings for his violine.

6

And what did he do with her arms so long?
He made them bows for his violon.

7

And what did he do with her nose so thin?
He made it a bridge for his violin.

8

And what did he do with her eyes so bright?
He made them spectacles to put to his sight.

9

And what did he do with her petty toes?
He made them a nosegay to put to his nose.