The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #62387   Message #1007800
Posted By: Malcolm Douglas
25-Aug-03 - 11:38 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: The Robin's Last Will
Subject: Lyr Add: THE ROBIN'S LAST WILL
It's fairly old, and known by a number of titles. Found mainly in Scotland, it appears, but also in the North of England. There are several texts in the Digital Tradition database:  Robin Redbriest's Testament.  They don't include the fragement you quoted, though; here is a set from Northumberland which does:


THE ROBIN'S LAST WILL

(From the Mitford family, Northumberland. M. H. Mason, Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs, 1909)

As I cam' past by Garrick,
And by the brig o' Dee,
I saw a little robin,
Sitting on a tree.
Tooraloo, tooraloo,
Tooraloora tooraloo
.

I said, "My pretty robin,
Hoo lang hae ye sat here?"
He said, "I've lived upon this tree
These four and twenty year."
Tooraloo &c.

"I'm going to mak' my testament
Just here upon this tree,
I'm going to mak' my testament
This day before I dee."
Tooraloo &c.

"I'll give my pretty head,
It is baith round and sma',
Unto the boys o' Garrick,
To play at the foot-ba'."
Tooraloo &c.

I'll give my pretty legs,
They are baith slim and ta',
Unto the brig o' Garrick:
I hear it's going to fa'."
Tooraloo &c.

As little Robin ended,
He shut his pretty eyes,
And doon he dropped unto the groond,
Never more to rise.
Tooraloo, tooraloo,
Tooraloora tooraloo
.


Number 3900 in the Roud Folk Song Index.