Where did she get her money from, daughter, daughter?
Where did she get her money from, daughter, dear daughter of mine?
[Then follow verses sung in the same manner, beginning with the following lines—]
Sold her father’s feather bed, feather bed.
What will your father lie on, lie on?
Lay him in the pig-sty, pig-sty.
Where will the pigs lie, daughter?
Lay them in the wash-tub, mother.
What shall I wash in, wash in?
Wash in a thimble, mother.
A thimble won’t hold my night-cap.
Wash by the sea-side, mother.
Suppose the clothes should blow away?
Get a boat and go after them, mother.
But suppose the boat should turn over?
Then that would be an end of you, mother.
—Bocking, Essex (Folk-lore Record, iii. 169).
Mother, please buy me a milking-can,
A milking-can, a milking-can!
Mother, please buy me a milking-can,
With a humpty-dumpty-daisy!
[Then follow verses sung in the same manner, beginning—]
Where’s the money to come from, to come from?
Sell my father’s feather bed.
Where’s your father going to lie?
Lie on the footman’s bed.
Where’s the footman going to lie?
Lie in the cowshed.
Where’s the cows going to lie?
Lie in the pig-sty.
Where’s the pig going to lie?
Lie in the dolly-tub.
And what am I to wash in?
Wash in a thimble.
A thimble wunna hold a cap.
Wash in an egg-shell.
An egg-shell wunna hold a shirt.
Wash by the river-side.
Suppose the clothes should float away?
Get a boat and fetch them back.
Suppose the boat should overthrow?
Serve you right for going after them!
—Berrington, Oswestry, Chirbury (Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 515).