Child Ballads - Additions and Corrections

20. The Cruel Mother

P. 21 8 b. Danish. 'I delgsmål,' Kristensen, Skattegraveren, V, 98, No 644; corrupted.

(N, O should be O, P, II, 500: see I, 504.)

Q

The Cruel Mother,' Shropshire Folk-Lore, edited by Charlotte Sophia Burne, 1883-86, p. 540; "sung by Eliza Wharton and brothers, children of gipsies, habitually travelling in North Shropshire and Staffordshire, 13th July, 1885."

1	There was a lady, a lady of York, Ri fol i diddle i gee wo She fell a-courting in her own father's park. Down by the greenwood side,
2	She leaned her back against the stile, Ri fol i diddle i gee wo There she had two pretty babes born. Down by the greenwood side,
3	And she had nothing to lap 'em in, Ri fol i diddle i gee wo But she had a penknife sharp and keen. Down by the greenwood side,
4	. . . Ri fol i diddle i gee wo There she stabbed them right through the heart. Down by the greenwood side,
5	She wiped the penknife in the sludge; Ri fol i diddle i gee wo The more she wiped it, the more the blood showed. Down by the greenwood side,
6	As she was walking in her own father's park, Ri fol i diddle i gee wo She saw two pretty babes playing with a ball. Down by the greenwood side,
7	'Pretty babes, pretty babes, if you were mine, Ri fol i diddle i gee wo I'd dress you up in silks so fine.' Down by the greenwood side,
8	'Dear mother, dear mother, [when we were thine,] Ri fol i diddle i gee wo You dressed us not in silks so fine. Down by the greenwood side,
9	'Here we go to the heavens so high, Ri fol i diddle i gee wo You'll go to bad when you do die.' Down by the greenwood side,

219 b, 504 a, II, 500 a. (M at this last place should be O.) Add: P, 'Die Schäferstochter,' as sung in the neighborhood of Koslin, Ulrich Jahn, Volkssagen aus Pommern u. Rügen, No 393, p. 310 f. (G.L.K.)

A Magyar-Croat ballad of the same tenor as the German, Kurelac, p. 150, No 451. (W.W.)

To be Corrected in the Print.

500, 20, first line. Read O for M. English N, O should be O, P.

This page most recently updated on 18-Apr-2011, 17:02:17.
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