Lucy Wan- Penguin Book of English Folk Songs 1959
From the notes to the Penguin Book (1959):
"This rare ballad, also called Lizzie Wan, belongs to the same tradition as the well-known Edward (Child #13). But whereas in Edward it is usually the brother who is the victim (for reasons that are seldom clear), in Lizzie or Lucy Wan it is the sister, guilty of incest whether wittingly or not, who is savagely put to death. This is the only version of the ballad found in oral tradition in England, nor has any new Scottish version been reported since the publication of Motherwell's Minstrelsy in 1827...The three opening stanzas are quoted from Child (with "Lucy" substituted for "Lizzie"), and the order of Mrs. Dann's verses is re-arranged for the sake of coherence." -R.V.W./A.L.L.
This version was collected by Ella Bell and W. Percy Merrick from Mrs. Dann of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire (no date given) and was first published in the Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, vol. I, p. 53, 1932.
LUCY WAN- The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs;
Selected and edited by Ralph Vaughan Williams and A.L. Lloyd
Penguin Books, 1959
Fair Lucy she sits at her father's door,
A-weeping and making moan,
And by there came her brother dear:
'What ails thee, Lucy Wan?'
'I ail, and I ail, dear brother,' she said,
'I'll tell you the reason why;
There is a child between my two sides,
Between you, dear Billy, and I.'
And he has drawn his good broad sword,
That hung down by his knee,
And he has cutted off Lucy Wan's head,
And her fair body in three.
'Oh, I have cutted off my greyhound's head,
And I pray you pardon me.'
'Oh, this is not the blood of our greyhound,
But the blood of our Lucy.'
'Oh, what shall you do when your father comes to know?
My son, pray tell unto me.'
'I shall dress myself in a new suit of blue
And sail to some far country.'
'Oh, what will you do with your houses and your lands?
My son, pray tell unto me?'
'Oh, I shall leave them all to my children so small,
By one, by two, by three.'
'Oh, when shall you turn to your own wife again?
My son, pray tell unto me.'
'When the sun and the moon rise over yonder hill,
And I hope that may never, never be.'