My Wee Crooding Doo- Archibald; 1830; Child U
[From: Letters addressed to Sir Walter Scott, XX, No 77, Abbotsford; from Joseph Jamieson Archibald, Largs, 18th February, 1830.
R. Matteson 2011, 2018]
My Wee Crooding Doo- from Joseph Jamieson Archibald, Largs, 18th February, 1830. “By the bye! How does your copy of ‘Willie Doo’ go? Or is it the same as our ‘Auld Nursery Lilt,’ better known by the name of ‘My Wee Croodling Doo’? To give you every justice, I shall copy a stanza or two.”
1 ‘Whare were ye the lea lang day,
My wee crooding doo, doo?’
‘I hae been at my step-dame’s;
Mammy, mak my bed noo, noo!’
2 ‘Whare gat she the wee, wee fish?’
‘She gat it neist the edder-flowe.’
3 ‘What did she wi the fishie’s banes?’
‘The wee black dog gat them to eat.’
4 ‘What did the wee black doggie then?’
‘He shot out his fittie an deed;
An sae maun I now too, too.’ Etc.
“The wee crooding doo next received a fatal drink, and syne a lullaby, when his bed was made ‘baith saft an fine,’ while his lang fareweel and dying lamentation was certainly both trying and afflicting to the loving parents.” The drink after the fish was a senseless interpolation; the ‘lang fareweel’ was probably the testament of the longer ballad.