Lady Gay

Other titles or closely related songs: Three Little Babes, Children's Song, Cruel Mother, The Wife of Usher's Well

Child #79

There was a lady and a lady gay
Of children she had three
She sent them away to the North Country
For to learn their grammarie

They’d not been gone but a very short time
Scarcely six months to the day
When death cruel death came hasting along
And stole those babes away

There was a king in Heaven she cried
Who used to wear a crown
Send all my three little babes to me
If you have such renown

‘Twas just about old Christmas time
The nights being cold and clear
She looked and saw her three little babes
Come running home to her

She laid the table both long and wide
On it she put bread and wine
Come eat come drink my three little babes
Come eat come drink of mine

We cannot eat your bread mother
Neither can we drink your wine
For yonder stands our savior dear
And to Him we must resign

She made their bed in her own high home
On it she put sheets of gold
And all the night she kept the fire
To keep her babes from the cold

The eldest one sat awake in bed
Rooster crowing for the dawn
Awake, awake my two little brothers
Awake we must be gone

Green grass grows over our heads mother
Cold clay is under our feet
And every tear you shed for us
It wets our winding-sheet

So, what is going on here? Undoubtedly many things, but what I find especially interesting is the battle between paganism and Christianity. "Grammarie" means learning to read and write. Such knowledge seems innocuous in modern times, but in the fifteenth century or so it would have been especially empowering. Moreover, some commentators regard “grammarie” here as referring to the sorcerer's arts. In any case, the children show little or no sympathy for the mother, whose bread and wine they reject in favor of their “savior dear.”

The final line refers to the old idea that the dead cannot rest in peace if the living display excessive grief for them. Remember that in medieval times, the line between living and dead was fuzzier than in the modern era, and the dead body itself had great importance because it would be (we hope) resurrected at some point.

This ballad is extremely common and manifests itself in a wide range of lyrics, melodies, and titles. The version here is just one of many possibilities.