The Carrion Crow
The Carrion Crow | |
Traditional ballad
| The carrion crow he sat upon an oak, And he spied an old tailor a cutting out a cloak. Heigho! the carrion crow.
2. The carrion crow he began for to rave,
3. Wife, go fetch me my arrow and my bow,
4. The tailor he shot, and he missed his mark, |
5. Wife, go fetch me some treacle in a spoon, For the old sow's in a terrible swoon! Heigho! the carrion crow.
6. The old sow died, and the bells they did toll,
7. Never mind, said the tailor, I don't care a flea, |
The religion of the 'old sow,' whoever she may be, is clearly pointed out by her little pigs praying for her soul.
The 'tailor' is not easily identified. It is possibly intended for some puritan divine of the name of Taylor, who wrote and preached against both prelacy and papacy, but with an especial hatred of the latter. In the last verse he consoles himself by the reflection that, notwithstanding the deprivations, his party will have enough remaining from the voluntary contributions of their adherents.
The 'cloak' which the tailor is engaged in cutting out, is the Genevan gown, or cloak; the 'spoon' in which he desires his wife to bring treacle, is apparently an allusion to the 'spatula' upon which the wafer is placed in the administration of the Eucharist; and the introduction of 'chitterlings and black-puddings' into the last verse seems to refer to a passage in Rabelais, where the same dainties are brought in to personify those who, in the matter of fasting, are opposed to Romish practices. The song is found in collections of the time of Charles II.