The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #113486   Message #2415139
Posted By: Joe_F
15-Aug-08 - 09:41 PM
Thread Name: The Cuckoo Bird question
Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question
Echoing the last line of the old stanza is that of the lovely "Dewdrop" (like the recent versions of "The Cuckoo", it too is about a lady keeping a stiff upper lip), as sung by Margaret MacArthur of blessed memory:

Take half a pound of reason and quarter pound of sense,
A small sprig of thyme and so much impudence.
Stir 'em all together and then you'll plainly see
He's a false deceiving lover, let him go, farewell he.

(The grammar of that makes we wonder why we say "Fare thee well". One would expect "Fare thou well"; cf. "Go thou and do likewise".)