Digital Tradition Mirror

Babylon, or the Bonnie Banks o' Fordie

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

Babylon, or the Bonnie Banks o' Fordie

There were three sisters, they lived in a bower
   Sing Anna, sing Margaret, sing Marjorie
The youngest o them was the fairest flower
   And the dew goes thro the wood, gay ladie

The oldest of them she's to the wood gane
To seek a braw leaf and to bring it hame

There she met with an outlyer bold
Lies many long nights in the woods so cold

'Istow a maid or istow a wife?
Wiltow twinn with thy maidenhead or thy sweet life?'

'O kind sir, if I hae't at my will
I'll twinn with my life, keep my maidenhead still'

He's taen out his we pen-knife,
He's twinned this young lady of her sweet life

He wiped his knife along the dew;
But the more he wiped, the redder it grew.

The second of them she's to the wood gane,
To seek her old sister, and to bring her hame.

There she met with an outlyer bold,
Lies many long nights in the woode so cold.

'Istow a maid, or istow a wife?
Wiltow twinn with thy maidenhead, or thy sweet life?'

'O kind sir, if I hae't at my will,
I'll twinn with  my life, keep my maidenhead still'

He's taen out his we pen-knife
He's twinned this young lady of her sweet life

He wiped his knife along the dew;
But the more he wiped, the redder it grew.

The youngest of them she's to the wood gane,
To seek her two sisters, and to bring them hame.

There she met with an outlyer bold,
Lies many long nights in the woods so cold.

'Istow a maid, or istow a wife?
Wiltow twinn with thy maidenhead or thy sweet life?'

'If my three brethren they were here
Such questions as these thou durst nae speer.'

'Pray, what may thy three brethren be,
That I durst na mak so bold with thee?'

'The eldest o them is a minister bred,
He teaches the people from evil to good.

'The second o them is a ploughman good
He ploughs the land for his livelihood.

'The youngest of them is an outlyer bold
Lies many a long night in the woods so cold'

He stuck his knife then into the ground
He took a long race, let himself fall on.

Child #14
SOF

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!