OK, here it is - I finally managed to locate the words, and since this version isn't in the DT, I'll post them here.

And the version _does_ talk about why Lankin 'did it' - interesting that I hadn't retained that Part in my memory of the song.

Cheers,

Catrin
^^
LAMBKIN
(As sung by Terry Yarnell)

A better man than Lambkin
He never built with stone.
He built Lord Wearie's castle
But of payment he got none

"O pay me Lord Wearie
O pay me my fee!"
"I cannot pay you Lambkin
For I'm going o'er the sea."

Lord Weary and his lady
Were walking on the quay
"Oh look our for bold Lambkin
When he comes up this way."

"Why should I look for Lambkin?
Why should I look out for him?
When my doors are fast bolted
And the windows all pinned in."

But the nurse was as false one
As ever hung on tree
She laid a plot with Lambkin
When her Lord was on the sea.

Lord Wearie hadn't gone long
When Lambkin came nigh
He knocked at the front door
And the Nurse let him by.

"Where are the men of the house
That calls me Lambkin?"
"They're in the barn threshing
And they'll not come in."

"Where are the women of the house
That call me Lambkin?"
"They're at the well washing
And they'll not come in."

"Where is the lady of the house?
Is she not within?"
"She's in her room sewing
And she'll not come in."

"What shall we do?" said Lambkin
"To make her come in."
""Pierce the babe in the cradle."
Said the false nurse to him.

So the Lambkin he pierced it
And the false nurse she sang
And the blood from the cradle
Through each bar it ran.

"O mistress, dear mistress
How can you sleep so fast?
Can't you hear young Sir Johnson
A crying his last?

"O, please my child Orange.
O, please him with the key."
"He won't be pleased lady
Not for all my nurses fee."

"O please my child Orange,
O please him with the wand."
"He won't be pleased lady.
Not for all his father's land."

"O please my child Orange
O please him with the bell."
"He won't be pleased lady.
'Til you come down yourself."

"How can I come down stairs,
On a cold winter's night
With no spark of fire burning
Nor no candle alight?"

"You've two Holland sheets there
As white as the snow.
I pray you come down here,
By the light of them do so."

Now the first step she's taken
She's trod on a stone,
And the next step she's taken
She's trod on Lambkin.

"O mercy, mercy, Lambkin.
O, mercy on me.
Although you've killed my Johnson
You shall have all your fee."

"If you'd give me the money,
Like the sands of the sea,
I'd not keep my sharp knife
From your white skin so free.

"Now, shall we kill her Orange?
Or shall we let her be?"
"O, kill her, kill her Lambkin
For she's been no good to me."

"Go fetch the silver basin,
Go scour it nice and clean,
For to catch the lady's heart blood
For she comes of noble kin."

"You need no basin Lambkin.
Let the blood run through the floor.
What's better than the heart blood
Of the rich, than of the poor?"

And with that, bold Lambkin
He stuck his knife keen.
And the rich lady's heart blood
It dropped on the stone.

Lord Wearie in a month or more
Came sailing o'er the foam
And sad and bitter was his heart
When he rode in his home.

There was blood in the nursery
There was blood in his hall
There was blood on the stairs
And her heart blood on all.

"Come here, come here, Lambkin
And I'll pay you your fee."
And the fee that he paid him,
He hung him on a tree,

"Come here, come here Orange
And I'll pay you your hire."
And the hire that he paid her,
He burnt her in the fire.