Lyrics The Cruel Mother - Ewan MacColl

A minister's dochter in the North,
Hey, the rose and the linsie, O.
She's fa'en in love w i' her faither's clerk,
Doon by the greenwood sidie, O.

She's coorted him a year and a day.
Till her the young man did betray.

She leaned her back against a tree.
And then the tear did blind her e'e.

She leaned her back against a thorn.
And there twa bonnie boys has she born.

She's ta'en the napkin frae her neck.
And made tae them a winding sheet.

She's ta'en oot her little penknife.
And she has twined them o' their life.

She's laid them 'neath a marble stane,
Thinking to gang a maiden hame.

She's looked ower her faither's wa',
And she's seen they twa bonnie boys at the ba'.

"O bonnie bairns, gin ye were mine,
I would dress ye in the silk sae fine."

"O cruel mither, when we were thine.
We didna see ocht o' the silk sae fine."

"O bonnie bairns, come tell toe me.
What kind o' a deith I'll hae to dee?"

"Sieven year a fish-in the flood,
Sieven year a bird in the wood.

"Sieven year a tongue to the warnin' bell,
Seven year in the caves o' hell."

"Welcome, welcome, fish in the flood.
Welcome, welcome, bird in the wood.

"Welcome tongue o' the warning bell.
But God keep me frae the flames o' Hell."