Margery Daw

    See, Saw, Margery Daw,
    Sold her bed and lay upon straw;
    Was not she a dirty slut,
    To sell her bed and lie in the dirt!

There was an old woman tossed up in a blanket,
Seventeen times as high as the moon;
Where she was going I could not but ask it,
For in her hand she carried a broom.
"Old woman, old woman, old woman," quoth I;
"O whither, O whither, O whither so high?"
"To sweep the cobwebs from the sky,
And I'll be with you by-and-by!"

There was a little woman, as I've heard say,
Fol, lol, diddle, diddle dol;
She went to market, her eggs for to sell,
Fol, lol, diddle, diddle dol.
She went to market all on a market day,
And she fell asleep upon the king's highway;
Fol de rol de lol lol lol lol lol,
Fol, lol, diddle, diddle dol.]

2 And there came a pedlar whose name was Stout,
Fol, lol, &c.,
He cut her petticoats all round about,
Fol, lol, &c.,
He cut her petticoats up to her knees,
Which made the little woman to shiver and freeze,
Fol de rol, &c.

3 When the little woman began to awake,
Fol, lol, &c.,
She began to shiver, and she began to shake,
Fol, lol, &c.,
She began to shake, and s...

Two Maids killed the Rooster whose warning
Awoke them too soon every morning:
But small were their gains,
For their Mistress took pains
To rouse them herself without warning.

Laziness Is Its Own Punishment

There was an old woman and what do you think?
She lived upon nothing but victuals and drink;
Victuals and drink were the chief of her diet,
Yet this plaguey old woman could never be quiet.

Who told my mother of my shame,
    Who told my father of my dear?
Oh who but Maude, my sister Maude,
    Who lurked to spy and peer.

Cold he lies, as cold as stone,
    With his clotted curls about his face:
The comeliest corpse in all the world
    And worthy of a queen's embrace.

You might have spared his soul, sister,
    Have spared my soul, your own soul too:
Though I had not been born at all,
    He'd never have looked at you.

My father may sleep in Paradise,
    My mother at Heaven-gate:
But sister Maude shall get no sleep
    Either early or late.

My father may wear a golden gown,
    My mother a crown may win;
If my dear and I knocked at Heaven-gate
    Perhaps they'd let us in:
But sister Maude, oh sister ...