Three Little Babes
lyrics as sung on The Milk-Eyed Mender
There was a knight, and a lady bright
and three little babes had she.
She sent them away, to a far country,
to learn their grammerie.
They hadn't been gone but a very short time,
about three months and a day,
when the lark spread o'er this whole wide world
and taken those babes away.
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.
She set them a table of bread and wine,
that they might drink and eat;
she spread them a bed of winding sheet,
that they might sleep so sweet.
"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."
"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."
Notes
An Appalachian folk song, JN likely heard it via Texas Gladden.