Wi’ four to thine eldest son:
But thanks to a’ the powers in heaven
That I gae maiden hame!’
THE CRUEL MOTHER
The Text is given from Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, earlier versions being only fragmentary.
The Story has a close parallel in a Danish ballad; and another, popular all over Germany, is a variation of the same theme, but in place of the mother’s final doom being merely mentioned, in the German ballad she is actually carried away by the devil.
In a small group of ballads, the penknife appears to be the ideal weapon for murder or suicide. See the Twa Brothers and the Bonny Hind.
THE CRUEL MOTHER
1.