The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #47959   Message #717709
Posted By: McGrath of Harlow
26-May-02 - 07:13 PM
Thread Name: DTStudy: Cutty Wren
Subject: RE: DTStudy: Cutty Wren
Richard Nettel in "Sing a Song of England" (1954) put a version in a chapter The Green Man, alongside Robin Hood ballads, implying an association, though never spelling it out.

"Oh what shall we shoot at?" said Richet to Robet,
"Oh what shall we shoot at?" said Robet to Bobet.
"Oh what shall we shoot at?" said John in the Long.
"Oh what shall we shoot at?" said everyone.

"We'll shoot at the wren" said Richat to Robet, etc
"How shall we carry it home?"
"We'll hire thre men"
"We'll hire six cooks"

"How shall we eat it"
"We'll invite all the town"
"The scraps for the poor"

"There are many versions of the song of Ricat and Robet, and an old Oxfordshire shepherd when singing it wold stamp violently when he sang 'everyone'; he declared it was a defiant song." (Nettel)

That version is from the Vale of the White Horse, Nettel's book says.