Ed de Moel

Child Ballads - Additions and Corrections

20. The Cruel Mother

P. 218. Findlay's Manuscripts, I, 58 f., derived from his mother.

1   I lookëd ower the castle-wa,
      Hey rose, ma lindie, O
Saw twa bonnie babies playin at the ba.
      Doon in the green wood-sidie, O
2   'O bonnie babies, an ye were mine,
      Hey rose, ma lindie, O
I wad feid ye wi flour-breid an wine.'
      Doon in the green wood-sidie, O
3   'O cruel mother, when we were thine,
      Hey rose, ma lindie, O
You did not prove to us sae kin.'
      Doon in the green wood-sidie, O
4   'O bonnie babies, an ye were mine,
      Hey rose, ma lindie, O
I wad cleid ye wi scarlet sae fine.'
      Doon in the green wood-sidie, O
5   'O cruel mother, when we were thine,
      Hey rose, ma lindie, O
You did not prove to us sae fine.
      Doon in the green wood-sidie, O
6   'For wi a penknife ye took our life
      Hey rose, ma lindie, O
And threw us ower the castle-wa.'
      Doon in the green wood-sidie, O
7   'O bonnie babies, what wad ye hae dune to me
      Hey rose, ma lindie, O
For my bein sae cruel to thee?'
      Doon in the green wood-sidie, O
8   'Seven yeare a fish in the flood,
      Hey rose, ma lindie, O
Seven yeare a bird in the wood.
      Doon in the green wood-sidie, O
9   'Seven yeare a tinglin bell,
      Hey rose, ma lindie, O
Seventeen yeare in the deepest hell.'
      Under the green wood-sidie, O

219 b, 504 a, II, 500 a, III, 502 b, IV, 451 a. Add S, Deutsche Volksballaden aus Südungarn, Grünn und Baróti, in Ethnologische Mitteilungen aus Ungarn, II, 201, No 4, 1892.


P. 219 b, 504 a, II, 500 a, IV, 451 a, V, 212 a. Add: T, Wolfram, p. 90, No 64, 'Es hütet ein Schafer an jenem Rain,' 'Die Rabenmutter; ' Böhme's edition of Erk's Liederhort, I, 636, No 212 e; and to the literature several items at p. 637.

219 b, III, 502 b. Similar Slavic ballads: Polish, Kolberg, Lud, IV, 52, No 220; XII, 308 f., Nos 611, 612; XVII, 9, No 17; XVIH, 188, No 346; XXI, 85, No 179; XXII, 160, No 284; Kolberg, Mazowsze, II, 160, No 352; IV, 366, No 436.

P. 220. C, sts 9, 10, 11 are in Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 183, written in pencil.

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