The Cruel Mother
(from British Ballads from Maine)
There was a lady lived in York
All alone and alone oh
She fell in love with her father’s clerk
Down by the Greenwood side
She leaned her back against a thorn
All alone and alone oh
And there those two pretty babes were born
Down by the Greenwood side
She took her pen knife keen and sharp
All alone and alone oh
She pierced her pretty babes to the heart
Down by the Greenwood side
She wiped her pen knife in the clay
All alone and alone oh
And there she wiped the stains away
Down by the Greenwood side
She dug a grave both long and deep
All alone and alone oh
She lay those pretty babes down to sleep
Down by the Greenwood side
When she returned to her father’s hall
All alone and alone oh
She spied her pretty babes playing ball
Down by the Greenwood side
She said pretty babes if you were mine
All alone and alone oh
I’d feed you on good cakes and wine
Down by the Greenwood side
Dearest mother when we were thine
All alone and alone oh
You never fed us on cakes and wine
Down by the Greenwood side
Oh babes oh babes if you were mine
All alone and alone oh
I’d dress you up in silk so fine
Down by the Greenwood side
Oh dearest mother when we were yours
All alone and alone oh
You dressed us up in bloody gore
Down by the Greenwood side
Oh babes oh babes it’s you can tell
All alone and alone oh
Whether I’m fit for heaven or hell
Down by the Greenwood side
-Mrs. Susie Car Young, Bucksport, Maine