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The parents being dead and gone,
The children home he takes,
And brings them straight unto his house,
Where much of them he makes.

He had not kept these pretty babes
A twelvemonth and a day,
But, for their wealth, he did devise
To make them both away.

He bargain'd with two ruffians strong,
Which were of furious mood,

That they should take these children young
And slay them in a wood.

He told his wife an artful tale:

He would the children send
To be brought up in London town
With one that was his friend.

Away then went those pretty babes,
Rejoicing at that tide-

Rejoicing with a merry mind

They should on cock-horse ride.

They prate and prattle pleasantly,
As they rode on the way,

To those that should their butchers be
And work their lives' decay:

So that the pretty speech they had

Made murder's heart relent;

Vol. I

And they that undertook the deed
Full sore did now repent.

Yet one of them, more hard of heart,
Did vow to do his charge,

Because the wretch that hirèd him
Had paid him very large.

The other won't agree thereto,
So there they fall to strife;
With one another they did fight
About the children's life:

And he that was of mildest mood
Did slay the other there,
Within an unfrequented wood;
The babes did quake for fear!

He took the children by the hand,
Tears standing in their eye,
And bade them straightway follow him,
And look they did not cry;

And two long miles he led them on,
While they for food complain:

"Stay here," quoth he, "I'll bring you bread, When I come back again."

These pretty babes, with hand in hand,

Went wandering up and down;

But nevermore could see the man

Approaching from the town:

Their pretty lips with blackberries
Were all besmeared and dyed;
And when they saw the darksome night,
They sat them down and cried.

Thus wandered these poor innocents,
Till death did end their grief;
In one another's arms they died,
As wanting due relief;

No burial this pretty pair
From any man receives,
Till Robin Redbreast piously

Did cover them with leaves.

And now the heavy wrath of God
Upon their uncle fell;

Yea, fearful fiends did haunt his house,

His conscience felt an hell:

His barns were fir'd, his goods consum'd,
His lands were barren made,

His cattle died within the field,
And nothing with him stay'd.

And in a voyage to Portugal
Two of his sons did die;

And, to conclude, himself was brought
To want and misery:

He pawn'd and mortgaged all his land
Ere seven years came about,

And now at length this wicked act Did by this means come out.

The fellow that did take in hand These children for to kill

Was for a robbery judg'd to die,
Such was God's blessed will:

Who did confess the very truth,
As here hath been display'd:
Their uncle having died in jail,
Where he for debt was laid.

You that executors be made,
And overseers eke,

Of children that be fatherless,
And infants mild and meek,

Take you example by this thing,
And yield to each his right,
Lest God with such-like misery
Your wicked minds requite.