Page:A book of nursery songs and rhymes (1895).pdf/173

 XX. THE WHALE

Taken down from a Devonshire nurse.

XXI. WINE AND WATER

Taken down from the same nurse as the preceding song.

XXII. THE TREE IN THE WOOD

This favourite song is given in 'Songs of the West,' together with music, and an account of its diffusion.

XXIII. THE QUAKER SONG

From a Devonshire nurse.

XXIV. GOOD KING ARTHUR

Sometimes this is sung of King Stephen.

XXV. MY BOY BILLY

This wide-spread rhyme is only one portion of a long story. The youth who is dissuaded from going a-courting by his mother persists, and is poisoned by the lady with a fish. Then follows the rest of the song, which consists of a dialogue with the mother, and he says:—

'Make my bed soon, For I am sick to the heart, mother, Fain would lie down.'

This, with its proper air, I have given in 'A Garland of Country Songs.' The complete story in both parts is found in Scotland. Both songs are very well known in Devonshire. They were sung about 1835 by a west-country nurse. There are Swedish and other versions, for which see Professor Child's 'English Ballads,' ii. 244. See for a further account of it 'The Garland of Country Songs' (Methuen, 1894).

XXVI. THE CARRION CROW

A very old folk and nursery song. It is given in Halliwell; also in Crane's 'Baby's Bouquet'; also in 'The Garland of Country Songs.'

XXVII. THE BABES IN THE WOOD

A rewriting and condensation of the old ballad, made about the beginning of this century. It is given with the air in