Three Little Babies- Smith (NC) 1936 Niles A
[From the Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
The Cruel Mother
( Child No. 20 )
OF THE 13 texts of "The Cruel Mother" offered by Child, less than half are complete. The ballad has been encountered many times in America, and very seldom is the story told fully. Until 1870 it had not been encountered in Denmark. That year, however, a folklore collector, working in Jutland, reported the ballad twice, and the similarity between the versions from Scotland and Jutland is surprising. One of these Danish texts runs to 18 verses and tells the story in its entirety. Although Child refers to the German and Wendish versions as "probable variations" of the English, Scottish, and Irish texts, we must admit that these "probable variations', are widespread and might be of equal antiquity.
With a few local changes, the story is almost the same wherever it is encountered. An unmarried girl of some importance produces issue - sometimes as many as three children. She destroys them, and although their feet are tied to prevent their walking as ghosts, they appear, denounce their mother, and make some dire prophecies concerning her future here and hereafter. In some of the Teutonic texts the devil himself appears and takes the hapless mother off
with him. In America it is, as one of my informants said, "the tale of a child-killing female who tried to palm herself off as an honest person."
Three Little Babies
(Niles No. 14 A)
This version of "The Cruel Mother," entitled "Three Little Babies," was sung to me on July 16, 1936, by Granny Hannah Smith, who lived at a place called Willscott Mountain in Cherokee County, N. C. At first, the singer's pitch on the A-flats and B-flats was variable. This was especially true with the A-flat in the 2nd and 10th measures. After the 2nd verse, however, and in all the repetitions, Granny Smith's singing was very accurate. Later in the same day, she taught me her version of "The Cuckoo."
Three Little Babies ( Niles No. 14 A)
Three little babies dancin' at the ball,
Down by the greenwood side-ee-o,
"Oh babes, oh babes, if you was mine,
All alone, alone, alone,
I'd dress you up in silk so fine,
Down by the greenwood side-ee-o."
"Oh Mother dear, when we were yourn,
Down by the greenwood side-ee-o,
You had nothing to wrap us in,
All alone, alone, alone,
'Cept an old apron, and that right thin,
Down by the greenwood side-ee-o.
"You leaned yourself against an oak,
And then you leaned against a thorn,
Falsehearted mother, we were born.
"You took a penknife keen and sharp,
And placed that penknife to our heart,
And prayed to the Lord we would depart.
"You buried us under a marble stone,
You buried us under a marble stone,
And prayed to the Lord hit would never be known."