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Children's Rhymes. Children's Games, Children's Songs, Children's Stories
Children's Songs and Ballads - Crowdie


Oh, that I had ne'er been married,
I wad never had nae care
Now I've gotten wife and bairns,
They cry Crowdie! ever mair.

Crowdie ance, crowdie twice,
Three times crowdie in a day
Gill ye crowdie ony mair,
Ye'll crowdie a' my meal away.

Quoting the stanzas as an old ballad in a letter to his friend, Mrs. Dunlop, in December, 1795, the poet Burns wrote:—"There had much need to be many pleasures annexed to the states of husband and father, for, God knows, they have many peculiar cares. I cannot describe to you the anxious, sleepless hours these ties frequently give me. I see a train of helpless little folks; me and my exertions all their stay; and on what a brittle thread does the life of man hang! If I am nipt off at the command of Fate, even in all the rigour of manhood, as I am — such things happen every day — Gracious God! what would become of my little flock? 'Tis here that I envy your people of fortune. A father on his death-bed, taking an everlasting leave of his children, has indeed woe enough; but the man of competent fortune leaves his sons and daughters independency and friends: while I—but I shall run distracted if I think any longer on the subject!" So might we all. Then, away with it, and let us have a more lightsome spring.


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