Bluegrass Messengers

The Cruel Mother- Warton; Shropshire 1885 Child Q

[Below Child's version is the text from Through Romany Songland- Page 137 (with music) by Laura Alexandrine Smith - 1889.

The Cruel Mother- Version Q;  Child 20
'The Cruel Mother,' Shropshire Folk-Lore, edited by Charlotte Sophia Burne, 1883-86, p. 540; "snug by Eliza Wharton and brothers, children of gipsies, habitually travelling in North Shropshire and Staffordshire, 13th July, 1885."

1. There was a lady, a lady of York,
    Ri fol i diddle i gee wo
She fell a-courting in her own father's park.
    Down by the greenwood side, O

2. She leaned her back against the stile,
Ri fol i diddle i gee wo
There she had two pretty babes born.
Down by the greenwood side, O

3. And she had nothing to lap 'em in,
Ri fol i diddle i gee wo
But she had a penknife sharp and keen.
Down by the greenwood side, O

4. . . . . . . . . .
Ri fol i diddle i gee wo
There she stabbed them right through the heart.
Down by the greenwood side, O

5. She wiped the penknife in the sludge;
Ri fol i diddle i gee wo
The more she wiped it, the more the blood showed.
Down by the greenwood side, O

6. As she was walking in her own father's park,
Ri fol i diddle i gee wo
She saw two pretty babes playing with a ball.
Down by the greenwood side, O

7. 'Pretty babes, pretty babes, if you were mine,
Ri fol i diddle i gee wo
I'd dress you up in silks so fine.'
Down by the greenwood side, O

8. 'Dear mother, dear mother, [when we were thine,]
Ri fol i diddle i gee wo
You dressed us not in silks so fine.
Down by the greenwood side, O

9. 'Here we go to the heavens so high,
Ri fol i diddle i gee wo
You'll go to bad when you do die.'
Down by the greenwood side, O
________________

[This version supplies the missing line in the 4th stanza]

Through Romany Songland - Page 137 with music by Laura Alexandrine Smith - 1889.

This song of " The Cruel Mother" was also sung by Eliza Wharton and her brothers. It is a variant of a standard ballad in Kinloch's and Motherwell's collections.

"THE CRUEL MOTHER"

"There was a lady, a lady of York,    
(Rifol i diddle i gee wo!) 
She fell a-courting in her own father's park,   
Down by the greenwood side, O!

"She leaned her back against the stile [read thorn]    
(Rifol i diddle i gee wo !)  
There she had two pretty babes born,   
Down by the greenwood side, 01

"And she had nothing to lap 'em in,
     (Ri fol i diddle i gee wo!)  
But she had a penknife sharp and keen,
    Down by the greenwood side, O!

"She did not care if they felt the smart, 
    (Rifol i diddle igee wo!) 
There she stabbed them right through the heart,
    Down by the greenwood side, O!
 
"She wiped the penknife in the sludge, 
    (Ri fol i diddle i gee wo !) 
The more she wiped it the more the blood showed,
    Down by the greenwood side, O!
 
"As she was walking in her own father's park, 
    (Rifol i diddle i gee wo !) 
She saw two pretty babes playing with a ball,
    Down by the greenwood side, O!
 
"Pretty babes, pretty babes, if you were mine,
     (Rifol i diddle i gee wo!)
 I'd dress you up in silks so fine,'
    Down by the greenwood side, O! "

' Dear mother, dear mother, when we were thine, 
    (Rifol i diddle i gee wo!)
You dressed us not in silks so fine,'
    Down by the greenwood side, O!

"Here we go to the heavens so high,
     (Rifol i diddle i gee wo!)
You'll go to bad when you do die!
    Down by the greenwood side, 01"