There was a Knight- Gladden (VA) 1941 Lomax REC
[My title, "Three Little Babes" by Texas Gladden SFW40149- 117. on recording, "Back Roads to Cold Mountain" Also Texas Gladden, "Three Little Babes" (on LomaxCD1702); "The Three Babes" (AFS, 1941; on LC58). A cover was made by Joanna Newsom, found on The Milk-Eyed Mender released on March 23, 2004.
R. Matteson 2015]
1 There was a knight and a lady bride[1]
And three little babes had she
She sent them away to a far country
To learn their grammeree.
2. They'd not been gone but a very short time,
About a year and a day.
Till the Lord called over this whole wide world
And taken those babes away.
3. It was on a cold cold christmas night
When everything was still
And she saw her three little babes come running
Come running down the hill
4 She set them a table of bread and wine
That they might drink and eat
She spread them a bed of a winding sheet
That they might sleep so sweet
5 'Take it off, take it off!', cried the eldest one
'Take it off, take it off!', cried she
'For I shan't stay here in this wicked world
When there's a better one for me'
6 'Cold clods, cold clods inside my bed
Cold clods, down at my feet
The tears my dear mother shed for me
Would wet my winding sheet'
'The tears my dear mother shed for me
Would wet my winding sheet
Would wet my winding sheet'
1. bright ("bright" and "bride" are used interchangeably)