The Cruel Mother

She sat down below a thorn,

     Fine flowers in the valley;

And there she has her sweet babe born,

     And the green leaves they grow rarely.

"Smile na sae sweet, my bonnie babe,"

"And ye smile sae sweet, ye'll smile me dead,"

     And the green leaves they grow rarely.

She's taen out her little penknife,

And twinn'd the sweet babe o' its life,

     And the green leaves they grow rarely.

She's howket a grave by the light o' the moon,

And there she's buried her sweet babe in,

     And the green leaves they grow rarely.

As she was going to the church,

She saw a sweet babe in the porch,

     And the green leaves they grow rarely.

"O sweet babe, and thou were mine,"

"I was cleed thee in the silk so fine,"

     And the green leaves they grow rarely.

"O mother dear, when I was thine,

Ye did na prove to me sae kind,"

     And the green leaves they grow rarely.