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Three Ravens [Child Ballad #26] with lyrics and video

      #1055: YouTube video by threelegsoman ©2009.
                   ~ Used with permission ~

There were three ra'ens sat on a tree,
Down a down, hey down, hey down,
They were as black as black might be,
With a down.
The one of them said to his mate,
Where shall we our breakfast take?
With a down, derry, derry, derry down, down.

Down in yonder green field,
Down a down, hey down, hey down,
There lies a knight slain 'neath his shield,
With a down.
His hounds they lie down at his feet,
So well they do their master keep,
With a down, derry, derry, derry down, down.

His hawks they fly so eagerly,
Down a down, hey down, hey down,
No other fowl dare come him night,
With a down.
Down there comes a fallow doe
As great with young as might she go
With a down, derry, derry, derry down, down.

She lifted up his bloody head,
Down a down, hey down, hey down,
And kissed his wounds that were so red,
With a down.
She got him up upon her back,
And carried him to earthen lake,
With a down, derry, derry, derry down, down.

She buried him before the prime
Down a down, hey down, hey down,
She was dead herself ere e'en-song time,
With a down.
God send every gentleman,
Such hawks, such hounds, and such a leman.
With a down, derry, derry, derry down, down.

####.... Author unknown. Variant of a traditional ballad [Child Ballad #26] (The English And Scottish Popular Ballads [1882-1898] edited by Francis James Child, Dover, 1965) ....####
First known publication 1611 in Melismata. Mvsicall Phansies. Fitting the Covrt, Citie, and Covntrey Hvmovrs. To 3, 4, and 5. Voyces, by Thomas Ravenscroft [1582/1592-1635?], English composer, theorist and editor, notable as a composer of rounds and catches, and especially for compiling collections of British folk music.

MacEdward Leach collected a variant published as #1, The Three Ravens, in Folk Ballads And Songs Of The Lower Labrador Coast by the National Museum of Canada (Ottawa, 1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.

From Wiktionary: Leman - (archaic) lover, sweetheart, especially a secret lover or mistress.


See more Child Ballad variants from Newfoundland and Labrador.





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