There was a lady and a lady gay
 Of children she had three
 She sent them away to the North Country
 To learn their grammaree

 They'd not been gone but a very short time
 Scarcely three weeks and a day
 When death, cruel death, came harkening along
 And stole those babes away

 "There is a King in Heaven," she cried
 "A King of third degree
 Send back, send back my three little babes
 This night send them back to me."

 She made a bed in the uppermost room
 On it she put a white sheet
 And over the top a golden spread
 That they much better might sleep

 "Take it off, take it off," cried the older one
 "Take it off, take it off," cried he
 "For what's to become of this wide wicked world
 Since sin has first begun."

 She set a table of linen fine
 On it she placed bread and wine
 "Come eat, come drink, my three little babes
 Come eat, come drink of mine."

 "We want none of your bread, mother
 Neither do we want your wine
 For yonder stands our Savior dear
 To Him we must resign."

 "Green grass is over our heads, mother
 Cold clay is over our feet
 And every tear you shed for us
 It wets our winding-sheet."