COUNTRY BOYS’ SONGS
Reading edition
The Cuckoo
The cuckoo’s a bonny bird, She sings as she flies; She brings us good tidings, And tells us no lies. She sucks little birds’ eggs, To make her voice clear, And never cries Cuckoo Till the spring of the year.
The Bird-Scarer’s Song
We’ve ploughed our land, we’ve sown our seed, We’ve made all neat and gay; Then take a bit and leave a bit, Away, birds, away!
Cradle Song
Sleep, baby, sleep, Our cottage vale is deep; The little lamb is on the green, With woolly fleece so soft and clean, Sleep, baby, sleep! Sleep, baby, sleep, Down where the woodbines creep; Be always like the lamb so mild, A kind and sweet and gentle child, Sleep, baby, sleep!