Cruel Mother

There was a lady, lived in the North Oh, the rose and the linsie-o She fell in love with her father's clerk Down by the greenwood sidie-o He courted her for a year and a day Oh, the rose and the linsie-o Till her the young man did betray Down by the greenwood sidie-o She leaned her back up against a thorn Oh, the rose and the linsie-o Then she had two pretty babes born Down by the greenwood sidie-o She took her penknife, keen and sharp Oh, the rose and the linsie-o She has stucked it to their hearts Down by the greenwood sidie-o As she was walking her father's hall Oh, the rose and the linsie-o She saw two babes a-playing ball Down by the greenwood sidie-o She said, "Oh, babes, it's you can tell" Oh, the rose and the linsie-o "What kind of death I have to die" Down by the greenwood sidie-o "Seven years a fish in the flood" Oh, the rose and the linsie-o "Seven years a bird in the wood" Down by the greenwood sidie-o "Seven years a tongue in the warning bell" Oh, the rose and the linsie-o "Seven years in the flames of hell" Down by the greenwood sidie-o "Oh, welcome, welcome, fish in the flood" Oh, the rose and the linsie-o "Welcome, welcome, bird in the wood" Down by the greenwood sidie-o "Welcome, welcome, tongue in the warning bell" Oh, the rose and the linsie-o "God, keep me from the flames in hell" Down by the greenwood sidie-o --- Cruel Mother - Judy Collins