Cruel Mother

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