The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #98230   Message #1942598
Posted By: black walnut
20-Jan-07 - 01:34 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
Subject: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
I love this version, the one I found in DigiTrad. Can anyone tell me more about the verses?

~b.w.

OATS, PEAS, BEANS AND BARLEY GROW

Oats, peas, beans and barley grow
Oats, peas, beans and barley grow
Can you or I or anyone know
Why oats, peas, beans and barley grow.

Come my love and go with me (3x)
And I will take good care of thee.

You are too young, you are not fit (3x)
You cannot leave your mother yet.

You're old enough, you're just about right (3x)
I asked your mother last Saturday night.

Note: The first verse, as I recall, was in the Original Mother
Goose (late 18th century); the others were encountered (along
with the first) in Kentucky in the 1930s. RG
@playparty @kids