"O cursed mother! hell is deep,
And there thou'll enter step by step."
THE CRUEL MOTHER.
From Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 46.
Three stanzas of a Warwickshire version closely resembling Kinloch's are given in Notes and Queries, vol. viii. p. 358.
There lives a lady in London—
All alone, and alonie;
She's gane wi' bairn to the clerk's son—
Doun by the greenwud sae bonnie.
She has tane her mantel her about—5
All alone, and alonie;
She's gane aff to the gude greenwud—
Doun by the greenwud sae bonnie.
She has set her back until an aik—
All alone, and alonie;10
First it bowed, and syne it brake—
Doun by the greenwud sae bonnie.
She has set her back until a brier—
All alone, and alonie;