"All a grene wyllow; wyllow, wyllow, wyllow,
All a grene wyllow is my garland."
In the Gorgeous Gallery of Gallant Inventions (1578) there is a slightly different burden—
"Willow, willow, willow, sing all of green willow,
Sing all of green willow, shall be my garland."
There is another copy of the following song in the Roxburghe Collection (i. 54, 55) printed in Roxburghe Ballads (ed. W. Chappell, 1869, Part I. p. 171). Both these are of the first half of the seventeenth century, and an earlier copy than either is printed by Mr. Chappell in his Popular Music of the Olden Time, i. 206.
Dr. Rimbault[854] has drawn attention to the following parody, dated 1668—
"A poore soule sat sighing near a ginger-bread stall,
O ginger-bread O, ginger-bread O!
With his hands in his pockets, his head on the wall,
O ginger-bread O, ginger-bread O!
You pye-wifes of Smithfield, what would ye be at!
Who talks of plum-pudding? here's better than that,
For here's ginger-bread O, ginger-bread O!">[
A poore soule sat sighing under a sicamore tree;
O willow, willow, willow!
With his hand on his bosom, his head on his knee:
O willow, willow, willow!
O willow, willow, willow!5
Sing, O the greene willow shall be my garlànd.