“There was three ladies in a ha’,
Fine flowers i’ the valley;
There came three lords among them a’,
Hi’ the red, green, and the yellow.”
Now, the remarkable thing is, that there is still sung in Cornwall—or was, till quite recently—a form of the ballad with a burden like this latter. It begins—
“There was a woman and she was a widow,
O the red, the green, and the yellow!
And daughters had three as the elm tree,
The flowers they blow in the valley.”
with this chorus:—