The Two Ravens- Walton (Pennsylvania) 1931
[This is the second version, not a traditional version, collected of Cunningham's Scottish ballad in the US (See: Henry A, c. 1900). After Cunningham's Two Crows was published in Cleveland's Compendium (Philadelphia, 1848, with subsequent editions reprinted in 1859 etc.) it began surfacing as a traditional ballad, but it was learned from this book- directly or second hand. The original, from Allan Cunningham, was printed in 1825 in Cunningham's Songs of Scotland, Vol. I, pp. 289-290. Cunningham rewrote Scott's (See Twa Corbies- Child A a.) and Ravenscroft's text (See Child A Three Ravens). I'll give Cunningham's original below.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
THE TWO RAVENS- From Mountain Minstrelsy of Pennsylvania, Shoemaker 1931. Long popular in Clinton County, One of Clarence Walton's favorites.
There were two corbies sat on a tree
Large and black, as black might be,
And one to the other began to say,
Where shall we go and dine today?
Shall we go dine by the wild salt sea?
Shall we go dine 'neath the greenwood tree?
As I sat on the deep sea sand,
I saw a fair ship nigh at land,
I waved my wings, I bent my beak,
The ship sunk, and I heard a shrieek;
There they lie, one, two, and three,
I shall dine by the wild salt sea.
Come I will show ye a sweeter sight,
A lonesome glen and a new slain knight;
His blood yet on the grass is hot,
His sword half drawn, his shafts unshot,
And no one knows that he lies there,
But his hawk, his hound, and his lady fair.
His hound is to the hunting gone,
His hawk to fetch the wild fowl home,
His lady's away with another mate,
So we shall make our dinner sweet;
Our dinner's sure, our feasting free,
Come, and dine by the greenwood tree.
You shall sit on his white neck bone,
I will pick out his bonny blue een;
Ye'll take a tress of his yellow hair,
To theak your nest when it grows bare;
The golden down on his young chin
Will do to sew my young ones in.
0 cold and bare will his bed be,
When winter storms sing in the tree;
At his head a turf, at his feet a stone,
He will sleep, nor hear the maiden's moan;
O'er his white bones the birds shall fly,
The wild deer bound and the foxes cry.
_______________
THE TWO RAVENS- The Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern; Volume 1 - Page 290 Allan Cunningham - 1825
There were two ravens sat on a tree,
Large and black as black might be,
And one unto the other 'gan say,
Where shall we go and dine to-day?
Shall we go dine by the wild salt sea?
Shall we go dine 'neath the greenwood tree?
As I sat on the deep sea sand,
I saw a fair ship nigh at land,
I waved my wings, I bent my beak,
The ship sank, and I heard a shriek;
There lie the sailors, one, two, three:
I shall dine by the wild salt sea-
Come, I will show ye a sweeter sight,
A lonesome glen and a new slain knight;
His blood yet on the grass is hot,
His sword half drawn, his shafts unshot,
And no one kens that he lies there,
But his hawk, his hound, and his lady fair.
His hound is to the hunting gane,
His hawk to fetch the wild fowl hame,
His lady's away with another mate,
So we shall make our dinner sweet;
Our dinner's sure, our feasting free,
Come, and dine by the greenwood tree.
Ye shall sit on his white hause-bane,
I will pike out his bonnie blue een;
Ye'll take a tress of his yellow hair,
To theak yere nest when it grows bare;
The gowden down on his young chin
Will do to rowe my young ones in.
O cauld and bare will his bed be,
When winter storms sing in the tree;
At his head a turf, at his feet a stone,
He will sleep nor hear the maiden's moan;
O'er his white bones the birds shall fly,
The wild deer bound and foxes cry.