Part 14 (1/2)

”I durst not come, I must not come, Unless all my little playfellows come along, For if my mother sees me at the gate, She'll cause my blood to fall.”

She show'd me an apple as green as gra.s.s, She show'd me a gay gold ring, She show'd me a cherry as red as blood, And so she entic'd me in.

She took me in the parlour, She laid me down to sleep, With a Bible at my head, And a Testament at my feet.

And if my playfellows quere for me, Tell them I am asleep.

I had a true love over the sea, Parla me dixi dominee!

He sent me love tokens one, two, three, With a rotrum potrum trumpitrorum, Parla me dixi dominee!

He sent me a book that none could read, He sent me a web without a thread.

He sent me a cherry without a stone, He sent me a bird without a bone.

How can there be a book that none can read?

How can there be a web without a thread?

How can there be a cherry without a stone?

How can there be a bird without a bone?

When the book's unwritten none can read; When the web's in the fleece it has no thread.

When the cherry's in the bloom it has no stone; When the bird's in the egg it has no bone.

With a rotrum potrum trumpitrorum, Parla me dixi dominee!

DREAM OF A GIRL WHO LIVED AT SEVENOAKS

Seven sweet singing birds up in a tree, Seven swift sailing s.h.i.+ps white upon the sea; Seven bright weather-c.o.c.ks s.h.i.+ning in the sun; Seven slim race-horses ready for a run; Seven golden b.u.t.terflies flitting overhead; Seven red roses blowing in a garden bed; Seven white lilies, with honey bees inside them; Seven round rainbows, with clouds to divide them; Seven pretty little girls, with sugar on their lips; Seven witty little boys, whom everybody tips; Seven nice fathers, to call little maids joys; Seven nice mothers, to kiss the little boys; Seven nights running I dreamt it all plain; With bread and jam for supper I could dream it all again.

There was an old woman, and she liv'd in a shoe, She had so many children, she didn't know what to do.

She crumm'd 'em some porridge without any bread; And she borrow'd a beetle, and she knock'd 'em all o' th' head.

Then out went the old woman to bespeak 'em a coffin, And when she came back she found 'em all a-loffeing.

There was an old woman drawn up in a basket, Three or four times as high as the moon, And where she was going I never did ask it, But in her hand she carried a broom.

A broom! a broom! a broom! a broom!

That grows on yonder hill, And blows with a yellow bloom, Just like lemon peel.

Just like lemon peel, my boys, To mix with our English beer, And you shall drink it all up While we do say Goliere!

Goliere! Goliere! Goliere! Goliere!

While we do say Goliere!

Dinty diddledy, My mammy's maid, She stole oranges, I am afraid; Some in her pocket, Some in her sleeve, She stole oranges, I do believe.

”Dinah, Dinah, Go to China, For oranges and tea; Dolly is sick, And wants them quick, So skip across the sea!”