The Cruel Mother- Crawford (Va.) 1915 Davis A
[Not a local title. From Davis, Traditional Ballads of Virginia, p. 133, Version A. Davis gives five fragmented versions, with version E, a single stanza (see Sharp D). His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
THE CRUEL MOTHER
(Child, No. 20)
THE story of the full ballad is briefly recounted by Child, as follows: "A young woman, who passes for a leal maiden, gives birth to two babes, puts them to death with a penknife, and buries them, or, ties them hand and feet and buries them alive. She afterward sees two pretty boys, and exclaims that if they were hers she would treat them most tenderly. They make answer that when they were hers they were differently treated, rehearse what she had done, and inform or threaten her that hell shall be her portion." The Virginia variants, several of which are mere fragments, omit all antecedent action about the identity of the young man and details of the birth and of the crime. They consist entirely of the dialogue between the cruel mother and the two babes whom she subsequently meets, in which the antecedent action is sufficiently indicated. This absence of preliminary- narrative, plus similarity of refrain, connects the Virginia texts with the Child series K, L, M, N. "The Cruel Mother" seems to be the usual title of the ballad, but it is also known in Virginia as "The Three Little Babes" and " Greenwood Side."
For American texts, see Bullein, Nos. 3-5; Campbell and Sharp, No. 9 (North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia; cf. Sharp, Songs, II, No. I); Cox, No. 5 and p. 522, 3 texts, melody); Jones, p.301 (fragment); Journal, XXV, 183 (Mackenzie, Nova Scotia); McGill, p. 83; Mackenzie, p. 104; Mackenzie, Ballads, No. 3, and p. 39, (fragment and melody); Shearin, p. 4;
Shearin and Combs, p. 7. For additional references see Cox, p. 29; Journal, XXX, 293.
A. "The Cruel Mother." Collected by Miss Juliet Fauntleroy. Sung by Mrs. James B. Crawford, of Altavista, Va. Campbell County. September 11, 1915. With music.
1. As I was going to my father's house,
All along and lonely,
I saw two babies playing with a ball,
Down on the green river sidey.
2. "Oh babes, Oh babes, if you were mine,"
All along and lonely,
"I'd dress you up in scarlet fine,"
Down on the green river sidey.
3. "Oh mother, Oh mother, when we were thine,"
All along and lonely,
"You would not dress us in scarlet fine,"
Down on the green river sidey.
4. "You stuck a pen-knife to our tender little heart,"
All along and lonely,
"And buried us down in brush in the dark,"
Down on the green river sidey.
(One stanza forgotten here about the mother's grief, Mrs. Crawford says.)
5. "Oh babes, Oh babes, if you could tell,"
All along and lonely,
"How long on earth have I to dwell?"
Down on the green river sidey.
6. "Seven long years on earth to dwell,"
All along and lonely,
"The balance of your time you'll spend in hell,"
Down on the green river sidey.