The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #9589   Message #3760610
Posted By: GUEST
24-Dec-15 - 12:49 AM
Thread Name: Origins: riddle song (I Gave My Love a Cherry)
Subject: RE: Origins: riddle song (I Gave My Love a Cherry)
Can anyone help me? I have a version of Wedderburn's Courtship that ends with:

"...A sparrow's horn, a priest unborn to join us both in twa, before you and I in one bed lie at either stock or wall.

...A sparrow's horn is easy got for there's one on every claw, and Damocles is a priest unborn, he'll join us both in twa."

Can anyone tell me what Damocles has to do with being a priest unborn? Or what it might have mistakenly been put in the place of? I know the story of Damocles and the sword, and I see no connection to a priest. Maybe if the lady in the song had asked for a king unborn...?