There was a knight, and a lady bright
and three little babes had she.
She sent them away, to a far country,
to learn their gramarye.

They hadn't been gone but a very short time,
about three months and a day,
when the lark spread o'er this whole wide world
and taken those babes away.

It was on a cold, cold Christmas night
when everything was still
ahe saw her three little babes come running,
come running down the hill.

She spread them a table of bread and wine,
that they might drink and eat;
she spread them a bed of winding sheet,
that they might sleep so sweet.

"Take it off, take it off," cried the eldest one;
"take it off, take it off," cried she,
"for I shan't stay here, in this wicked world
when there's a better one for me."

"Cold clods, cold clods, inside my bed,
cold clods, down at my feet -
the tears my dear mother shed for me
would wet my winding sheet."