Digital Tradition Mirror

Twa Craws Sat on a Stane

Twa Craws Sat on a Stane

     1.
     There was twa craws sat on a stane,
                 Fal de ral,
     Ane flew awa and there remained ane,
                 Fal de ral,

     The ither seein his neebour gane,
                 Fal de ral,
     He flew awa and there was nane,
                 Fal de ral.

     2.
     A craw sat on a stane, a stane,
     And when it flew away there was nane, there was nane.
     ________________________________________________________

     (1) SC 33 (no. 17), slightly more Scots than Herd (MS.,
     1776): "There was Two Craws sat on a stane, Fal de ral
     &c./Then he flew awa [etc.]."

     Moffat 50 TSNR (1933), 13, with music.  The burden lines
     run: Fal de ral de ral de ral de rah!/ Fal de ral lal
     fal de ral de lido!/ Fal de ral lal lal fal de rah!/ Fal
     de ral de ral de ral fal de rah!
     (2) Rymour Club Misc. I (1906-11), 124, from Crawford
     district.
     Cf. Halliwell NRE (1842), 17 (XXV); ODNR 85 (no. 51),
     "There were two birds sat on a stone"; first ref. Mother
     Goose's Melody, c. 1765.

MS
oct96

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