Recordings & Information 21. The Maid and the Palmer
[The Child Collection Index, I think incorrectly, lists versions of Jesus Met the Woman at the Well, which has a similar subject but is a different song. The Traditional Ballad Index lists the title and puts a question mark after it: Jesus Met the Woman at the Well (?), which implies that they don't know if it's a version.]
CONTENTS
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index
3) Folk Index
4) Child Collection Index
5) Wiki
6) Mainly Norfolk (lyrics and info)
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud Number 9: The Cruel Mother (312 Listings)
2) Shakspere's "Lead Apes in Hell" and the Ballad of "The Maid and the Palmer"
Alternative Titles
The Samaritan Woman
The Well Below the Valley
Seven Years
Traditional Ballad Index: Maid and the Palmer, The [Child 21];
DESCRIPTION: A woman comes to a well, where she meets a man who asks of her a drink. She says she can offer him none because her leman/husband is away. The man tells her that she has no leman, and goes on to tell of her sins and assigns a punishment
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1818 (GlenbuchatBallads)
KEYWORDS: Jesus religious adultery
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) Ireland
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Child 21, "The Maid and the Palmer" (2 texts)
Bronson's (21 in addenda), "The Maid and the Palmer" (2 versions in addenda)
GlenbuchatBallads, pp. 89-90, "The Maid of Coldingham" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 106-107, "The Maid and the Palmer" (1 text)
OBB 99, "The Maid and the Palmer" (1 text)
PBB 3, "The Maid and the Palmer" (1 text)
TBB 37, "The Maid and the Palmer" (1 text)
Niles 15, "The Maid and the Palmer" (1 text, which Niles identifies with Child 21, but the fragment is so short that it could equally be part of Child 20)
DT 21, MAIDPALM MAIDPAL2*
ST C021 (Full)
Roud #2335
RECORDINGS:
John Reilly, "The Well Below the Valley" (on Voice03)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Jesus Met the Woman at the Well" (subject)
cf. "See the Woman at the Well" (subject)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Samaritan Woman
The Well Below the Valley
Jesus Met the Woman at the Well (?)
Seven Years
NOTES: For the story of Jesus and the Woman of Samaria, see John 4:5-26.
The second part of the song, in which the woman is given a penance in the form of a series of transformations, has no parallel in the Biblical story, although such transformations are attested elsewhere -- notably in "The Cruel Mother" [Child 20]. In fact, I wonder if the ending of this song in the Percy text might not be taken from Child 20. - RBW
Folk Index: The Maid and the Palmer [Ch 21]
Sm - From Night til/to Morn
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), P106 [1800ca] (Lillumwham)
Brass Monkey. Brass Monkey, Topic 12TS 431, LP (1983), A.04
Child Collection Index
Child No.-- Artist---Title ---Album--- Have Rec?
021 Appalachian Blue Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Out of the Barn 2006 3:11 Yes
021 Bob Dylan Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Gleason Home Tape 1961 2:33 Yes
021 Brass Monkey The Maid and the Palmer The Acoustic Folk Box 2002 5:34 Yes
021 Brass Monkey The Maid and the Palmer The Complete Brass Monkey 1993 5:34 Yes
021 Brass Monkey The Maid and the Palmer The Definitive Collection 2003 5:33 Yes
021 Brass Monkey The Maid and the Palmer The Carthy Chronicles 2001 5:34 Yes
021 Brass Monkey The Maid and the Palmer Martin Carthy's 60th Birthday 2000 5:51 Yes
021 Brass Monkey The Maid and the Palmer The Definitive Collection 2005 5:33 Yes
021 Brass Monkey The Maid and the Palmer Roots - 20 Years of Essential Folk Roots & World Music - Britain, Ireland & North America 1999 No
021 Brass Monkey The Maid and the Palmer Three Score and Ten - A Voice to the People 2009 5:35 Yes
021 Brass Monkey The Maid and the Palmer Live at the Electric Theatre Guildford, 2009 2009 5:19 Yes
021 Brass Monkey The Maid and the Palmer Essential 2011 5:31 Yes
021 Brother Elmer Mackall Jesus Met the Woman at the Well A Bright Side Somewhere - Old Time Songs of Praise, African-American Sacred Singing in Southern Maryland, Vol. 2 2003 No
021 Carpathia The Band The Well Below the Valley <website> 2007 6:53 Yes
021 Catrin O'Neill The Well Below Nain's Kitchen 2009 No
021 Chanticleer Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Out of This World 1994 No
021 Christy Moore The Well/What's the Story Git? Traveller 1999 7:47 Yes
021 Christy Moore Well Below the Valley Live at the Point 1994 5:33 Yes
021 Circled By Hounds The Well Below the Valley Chasing Our Tales 2006 No
021 Clay & Scott Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Standing on the Highway 1998 No
021 Cynthia Blomquist Gustavson Woman at the Well When Love Is Real 2006 2:22 Yes
021 Dave Van Ronk Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Sunday Street 1976 5:34 Yes
021 Dave Van Ronk Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Statesboro Blues 1983 6:44 Yes
021 David & M Roach The Well Below the Valley Ducks in a Row - Ballads & Dance Tunes from Ireland, Scotland and America 2003 No
021 Die City Preachers Jesus Met the Woman Folklore 1965 2:13 Yes
021 Exordium Jesus Met the Woman The Trouble with Adam 1972 4:42 Yes
021 Floating Crowbar Well Below the Valley Two Nights in December 2011 No
021 Flora Molton & Eleanor Ellis Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Etats-Unis - Gospel 1994 No
021 Frankie Armstrong The Well Below the Valley 'Till the Grass O'ergrew the Corn - A Collection of Traditional Ballads 1996 3:31 Yes
021 Frankie Armstrong & Maddy Prior The Well Below the Valley Flash Company - A Celebration of 25 Years of Fellside Records 2001 3:29 Yes
021 Gin Circus Well Below the Valley <website> 2009 5:10 Yes
021 Hobart Smith Woman at the Well In Sacred Trust: the 1963 Fleming Brown Tapes 2005 2:32 Yes
021 Hulling Maria Magdalena Hårdhajen 1998 3:40 Yes
021 Ian & Sylvia Jesus Met the Woman at the Well The Complete Vanguard Studio Recordings 2001 2:12 Yes
021 Ian & Sylvia Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Four Strong Winds 1963 2:12 Yes
021 Ian & Sylvia Jesus Met the Woman at the Well American Folk Singers and Balladeers - The Classics Record Library 1964 2:14 Yes
021 Ian & Sylvia Jesus Met the Woman at the Well <website> 1965 2:04 Yes
021 Jake Burns The Well Below the Valley Drinkin' Again 2006 3:03 Yes
021 James Nixon Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Stand Up 1999 No
021 Joel Gilbert Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Rolling Thunder and the Gospel Years - Bob Dylan 1975-1981 - A Totally Unauthorized Documentary 2006 No
021 John Reilly The Well Below the Valley The Voice of the People, Vol. 3: O'Er His Grave the Grass Grew Green - Tragic Ballads 1998 3:19 Yes
021 John Reilly The Well Below the Valley Ancient Celtic Roots 1996 No
021 John Reilly The Well Below the Valley The Bonny Green Tree - Songs of an Irish Traveller 1977 No
021 John Reilly The Well Below the Valley Celtic Reflections 1998 No
021 Jon Boden The Maid and the Palmer A Folk Song a Day - February 2011 3:25 Yes
021 Klickstarter The Well Below the Valley <website> 2008 1:16 Yes
021 Len & Judy Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Folk Songs, Sweet and Bittersweet 1964 2:52 Yes
021 Len & Judy Jesus Met the Woman at the Well The Prestige/Folklore Years, Vol. 1: All Kinds of Folks 1995 2:52 Yes
021 Liam Weldon The Well Below the Valley Dark Horse on the Wind 1976 3:36 Yes
021 Mahalia Jackson Jesus Met the Woman at the Wall Come to Jesus 2006 No
021 Mahalia Jackson Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Just Over the Hill, There's a City Called Heaven 2005 No
021 Mahalia Jackson Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Live at Newport 1958 1994 3:12 Yes
021 Mahalia Jackson Jesus Met the Woman at the Well World's Greatest Gospel Singer 2006 No
021 Mahalia Jackson Jesus Met the Woman at the Well The World's Greatest Gospel Singer 1992 2:28 Yes
021 Mahalia Jackson Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Gospels, Spirituals & Hymns 1991 2:26 Yes
021 Marie Knight Jesus Met the Woman at the Wall Today - The Original Recording 1995 2:25 Yes
021 Marilyn Baker Woman at the Well From the Beginning 2004 No
021 Marty Haugen The Woman at the Well That You May Have Life 2005 No
021 Mick West The Well Below the Valley Sark O' Snaw 2009 4:59 Yes
021 Moira Cameron Well Below the Valley Lilies Among the Bushes 1997 No
021 National Clouds of Joy Jesus Met the Woman at the Well The Best of Capella Gospel Singing 1944-1949 2002 No
021 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Kicking Against the Pricks 1986 2:00 Yes
021 Omnia The Well Pagan Folk 2006 4:50 Yes
021 Peter, Paul & Mary Jesus Met the Woman In Concert 1964 4:24 Yes
021 Peter, Paul & Mary Jesus Met the Woman The Collection - Their Greatest Hits and Finest Performances 1998 4:19 Yes
021 Planxty The Well Below the Valley The Well Below the Valley 1988 5:33 Yes
021 Pól Mac Adaim The Well Below the Valley If We Don't Help Them Now 2003 7:43 Yes
021 Pyewackett The Well Below the Valley The Man in the Moon Drinks Claret 1982 3:11 Yes
021 Raymond Crooke The Well Below the Valley <website> 2007- 3:12 Yes
021 Rev. Gary Davis Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Demons and Angels - The Ultimate Collection 2004 No
021 Rev. Gary Davis Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Sonny Terry & His Mouth Harp and Blind Gary Davis the Singing Reverend 1995 No
021 Rev. Gary Davis Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Live at Gerde's Folk City, February, 1962 2009 5:36 Yes
021 Rev. Gary Davis Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Reverend Gary Davis - John Cohen's 1952 Wire Recordings 2010 No
021 Reverend Cleophus Robinson Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Someone to Care - The Battle Sessions 1994 No
021 Roger Drawdy & The Firestarters The Well Below the Valley Live Fire 2003 5:52 Yes
021 Sean Mackin The Well Below the Valley The Magdalene Sisters 2002 2:15 Yes
021 Selah Jubilee Singers Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Selah Gospel Train 2002 No
021 Sister Rosetta Tharpe Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Live at the Hot Club De France 1992 6:50 Yes
021 Spiritborne Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Prepare Ye the Way 1973 4:57 Yes
021 Spiritual Kvintet Jesu Met a Woman Hallelu! - Spirituals & Gospels 1991 No
021 Stars of Harmony Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Swing Time Gospel - The Acapella Groups 1995 No
021 Steeleye Span The Maid and the Palmer The Journey 1999 6:15 Yes
021 Steeleye Span The Maid and the Palmer Live at Last! 1978 6:36 Yes
021 Steeleye Span The Maid and the Palmer Another Parcel of Steeleye Span - Their Second Five Chrysalis Albums 1976-1989 2010 No
021 Svea Jansson Maria Magdalena Den Medeltida Balladen (The Medieval Ballad) - Folk Songs in Sweden 1995 4:44 Yes
021 Tammerlin [Tory Voodoo] The Well Below the Valley Third Weeks A'Lightnin' 1996 4:11 Yes
021 Terence O' Flaherty The Well Below the Valley <website> 2009 5:01 Yes
021 The Dealers The Well Below the Valley Live at the Neptune, Broadstairs Folk Week, 2008 2008 5:32 Yes
021 The Dealers The Well Below the Valley Live at Barnaby Rudge, Broadstairs, 2008 2008 6:19 Yes
021 The Dealers The Well Below the Valley Live at Rochester Sweeps Festival 2008 2008 5:07 Yes
021 The Devil's Interval The Well Below the Valley Blood & Honey 2006 3:50 Yes
021 The Faithful Wanderers Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Bandera - Blues and Gospel from the Bandera, Laredo and Jerico Road Labels of Chicago 2001 No
021 The Famous Blue Jay Singers of Birmingham Alabama Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Jubilation! Great Gospel Performances - Vol. 1 Black Gospel 1992 No
021 The Golden Gate Quartet Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Golden Gate Quartet & Associates - Vol. 2 (1941-1952) 2004 No
021 The Lyman Family & Lisa Kindred Jesus Met the Woman at the Well American Avatar - Love Comes Rolling Down 1969 5:28 Yes
021 The Morrigan The Well Below the Valley The Morrigan Rides Out 1997 4:58 Yes
021 The Morrigan The Well Below the Valley Live at the Fleece and Firkin, Bristol 1992 5:03 Yes
021 The National Clouds of Joy Jesus Met the Woman at the Well The Best of a Cappella Gospel Singing 1944-1949 1999 2:39 Yes
021 The Pilgrim Travelers Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Greatest Gospel Gems 1991
No 021 The Pilgrim Travelers Jesus Met the Woman at the Well The Best of the Pilgrim Travelers, Vol. 1 & 2 1990 No
021 The Poor Clares The Well Below the Valley Change of Habit 1997 4:09 Yes
021 The Settlers Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Sing a New Song 1971 4:21 Yes
021 The Sunliters Jesus Met the Woman at the Well 33 Inspirational Memories 2005 No
021 The Swan Silvertones Jesus Met the Woman at the Well The Swan Silvertones - 1946-1951 2005 No
021 The Versiteers Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Shall We Gather at the River - African-American Sacred Music from the Florida Folklife Collection (VA) 2007 2:46 Yes
021 The Wonders Jesus Met the Woman New Comer - Complete Singles & More 2000 No
021 Tim Story Woman at the Well Glass Green 1987 No
021 Tim Story Woman at the Well Peace of Mind - A Windham Hill Sampler 2002 No
021 Tim Story Woman at the Well In Search of Angels 1994 No
021 Tim Story Woman at the Well The First Ten Years 1990 No
021 Two Gospel Keys Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Country Gospel - the Post War Years (1946-1953) 1995 No
021 Vendla Johansson Maria Magdalena Den Medeltida Balladen (The Medieval Ballad) - Folk Songs in Sweden 1995 5:20 Yes
021 Veslemøy Solberg Maria Magdalena The Strength of the Runes 1996 5:14 Yes
021 Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters Jesus Met the Woman at the Well Old Time Gospel Favorites 2006 No
021 Wet Your Whistle The Well Below the Valley Wet Your Whistle 2005 No
021 Wyldefyre Well Below the Valley All's Faire 2005 No
The Maid and the Palmer- From Wikipedia,Child's Ballad 21
"The Maid and the Palmer" or "The Well Below The Valley" is Child ballad 21 and a murder ballad.[1] Because of its dark and sinister lyrics (implying murder and, in some versions, incest), the song was often avoided by folk singers.[2] It is claimed that Tom Munnelly was largely responsible for preserving the song. Munnelly heard it sung by a member of the travelling community named John Reilly in County Roscommon in 1963.
Synopsis
A palmer begs a cup from a maid who is washing at the well, so that he could drink from. She says she has none. He says that she would have, if her lover came. She swore she had never had a lover. He says that she has borne six babies and tells her where she buried the bodies. She begs some penance from him. He tells her that she will be transformed into a stepping-stone for seven years, a bell-clapper for seven, and spend seven years in hell.
In some variants, the children were incestously conceived.
Commentary
This ballad combines themes from the Biblical stories of the Samaritan woman at the well, and Mary Magdalene.[3] In several foreign variants, the palmer is in fact Jesus.[4]
The ballad "The Cruel Mother", Child ballad 20, exists in a number of variants; one contains a number of verses that appear to stem from this one.[5]
Recordings
The Irish folk band Planxty released a version on their album The Well Below the Valley (1973).
The folk-rock group Pyewackett played a version on their second album The Man in the Moon Drinks Claret (1982).
A version of Well Below The Valley can also be found on Christy Moore's live album At The Point Live (1994).
The paganfolk band Omnia has released a version of the song called 'The Well' and is on their PaganFolk album (2006).
The folk band Brass Monkey recorded a version for their 1983 eponymous debut album.
The wedding sequence that opens the film The Magdalene Sisters features a rendition of this song performed by Pol McAdam.
Steeleye Span recorded it on the album Live_at_Last_(Steeleye_Span_album)
References
1.^ Francis James Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads "The Maid and the Palmer"
2.^ "The Well Below the Valley Review". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r103165. Retrieved July 7, 2008.
3.^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 1, p 228, Dover Publications, New York 1965
4.^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 1, p 229, Dover Publications, New York 1965
5.^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 1, p 218, Dover Publications, New York 1965
___________
Mainly Norfolk: The Maid and the Palmer / The Well Below the Valley
[Roud 2335; Child 21; Ballad Index C021; trad.]
Steeleye Span, then with Martin Carthy and John Kirkpatrick, reworked this ancient ballad story “to fit an eighteenth century dance tune called From Night Till Morn”. They played it on their 1978 farewell live album Live at Last! with Martin Carthy and Maddy Prior singing. Another Steeleye live recording from The Forum, London on September 2, 1995 was released on the CD The Journey. Martin Carthy and John Kirkpatrick recorded The Maid and the Palmer again in 1983 Brass Monkey's eponymous first album, Brass Monkey. This track was re-released ten years later on The Complete Brass Monkey, in 2001 on Carthy's anthology The Carthy Chronicles, and in 2003 on his The Definitive Collection.
Jon Boden sang The Maid and the Palmer as the February 24, 2011 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day.
John Reilly sang a variant of this song, The Well Below the Valley, in Winter 1967 in Dublin. This recording was released in 1977 on his Topic album The Bonny Green Tree: Songs of an Irish Traveller, and it was included in 1998 on the Topic anthology O'er His Grave the Grass Grew Green (The Voice of the People Series Volume 3).
Frankie Armstrong and Maddy Prior sang The Well Below the Valley in 1996 on Armstrong's ballad album Till the Grass O'ergrew the Corn. The sleeve notes commented:
Early Scandinavian forms of the ballad tell the story of an encounter between Christ and Mary Magdalen. Despite her protestations of virginity, he reveals that she has borne three children by her father, her brother and the local priest. She begs forgiveness and after years of penance in the wilderness, she meets Christ again and is promised salvation. Child prints two texts, a fragmentary one from Scotland and a rather absurd English text from the Percy manuscript, which the noted Welsh poet and scholar Tony Conran has convincingly argued to be an Elizabethan anti-catholic burlesque of a lost earlier version. By one of those miracles of ballad survival, what looks like a true descendant of that hypothetical version turned up in the 1960s. Tom Munnelly collected it from John Reilly in Boyle, County Roscommon. The song is extraordinarily dark, despite its light and airy tune. As Conran noted, [it] is hard to hear as anything other than a song about sexual abuse and one, moreover, where the victim is blamed. In this respect, it reflects contemporary reality only too well. Trapped between her brutal family and the uncompassionate “man of noble fame”, she has no hope in this world and little in the next. Frankie was sent a recording of Pyewacket singing their arrangement of John Reilly's version and learned the song immediately.
The Devil's Interval sang The Well Below the Valley in 2006 on their CD Blood and Honey. They commented in their liner notes:
We first heard this song from Planxty, who made it famous. Then we heard their source and we were sold! His name was John Reilly, a traveller from Co. Roscommon. Reilly approached the tune with such fluidity that we decided to incorporate his variations into our version. At one time this ballad was banned in Ireland for its references to incest and infanticide; it clearly was not popular with the Catholic Church. There are many theories regarding the story within the song. We reckon the young woman in the tale is an earthbound spirit who is unaware that she is dead. The tall, dark, handsome gentleman (as we imagine him) may be the Devil in disguise, come to claim her soul… But don't let our interpretation mar your judgement!
The Maid and the Palmer- Martin Carthy and Maddy Prior on Live at Last!
Oh, the maid went down to the well for to wash,
And the dew fell down from her snow-white flesh,
The dew fell down from her snow-white flesh
As the sun shone down so early.
And as she washed, as she wrang,
She hung them out on a hazel wand,
She hung them out on a hazel wand
When by there come a palmer man.
Oh, God speed you, Old Man, she cries,
God speed you, you fair pretty maid,
God speed you, my pretty fair maid
As the sun shines down so early.
Have you got a cup? Have you got a can?
Can you give a drink to a palmer man?
Can you give a drink to a palmer man
As the sun shines down so early?
Oh, I've no cup and I've no can
And I cannot give a drink to a palmer man,
I cannot give a drink to a palmer man
As the sun shines down so early.
You lie, you lie, you are forsworn,
For if your true love came from Rome,
Then a cup, a can you'd find for him,
As the sun shines down so early.
Now she swore by God and the good St. John,
A true lover she'd had never the one,
A true love she'd had never the one,
As the sun shines down so early.
You lie, you lie, you are forsworn,
For nine children you have born,
Nine children you have born
As the sun shines down so early.
Oh, there's three of them lying under your bedhead,
Three of them under the hearth are laid,
Three of them under the hearth are laid
As the sun shines down so early.
Three more laying on yonder green,
Count, fair maid, for that makes nine,
Count, fair maid, for that makes nine
As the sun shines down so early.
Palmer, oh palmer, do tell me,
Penance that you will give to me,
Penance that you will give to me
As the sun shines down so early.
Penance I will give thee none,
But seven years as a stepping stone,
Seven years as a stepping stone
As the sun shines down so early.
Seven more as a clapper to ring in the bell,
Seven to run as an ape through hell,
Seven to run as an ape through hell
As the sun shines down so early.
Welcome, welcome stepping stone,
Welcome clapper in the bell to ring,
Welcome clapper in the bell to ring
As the sun shines down so early.
Welcome stone, welcome bell,
Christ, keep me from the apes of hell,
Christ, keep me from the apes of hell,
As the sun shines down so early.
The Well Below the Valley- Frankie Armstrong and Maddy Prior
A gentleman was passing by
He asked for a drink as he was dry
At the well below below the valley
Green grows the lilies-o all amongst the bushes
My pitcher now does overflow
If I bent over 'tis in I'll go
To the well below the valley
Green grows the lilies-o all amongst the bushes
If your true lover was passing by
You'd give him a drink if he was dry
At the well below the valley
Green grows the lilies-o all amongst the bushes
She swore by grass, she swore by corn
That her true lover had never been born
At the well below the valley
Green grows the lilies-o all amongst the bushes
Peace, fair maid, you are forsworn
For nine children have you born
At the well below the valley
Green grows the lilies-o all amongst the bushes
If you're a man of noble fame
Pray tell to me the father's name
At the well below the valley
Green grows the lilies-o all amongst the bushes
Four of them by your father dear
Four more of them by your uncle
The other one by your brother John
At the well below the valley
Green grows the lilies-o all amongst the bushes
Since you're a man of noble fame
Pray tell to me what happened then
At the well below the valley
Green grows the lilies-o all amongst the bushes
Four of them buried by the sty
Four more of them by the stable
The other one lies beneath the well
The well below the valley
Green grows the lilies-o all amongst the bushes
Since you're a man of noble fame
Pray tell to me what happens then
At the well below the valley
Green grows the lilies-o all amongst the bushes
You'll be seven long years a-ringing a bell
Seven more a-portin' in hell
At the well below the valley
Green grows the lilies-o all amongst the bushes
I'll be seven long years a-ringing a bell
But the Lord above will save me from hell
At the well below the valley
Green grows the lilies-o all amongst the bushes