THE
BABES
IN THE
wooD

as many toys to be had for the asking as their
hearts could desire.

Away then went those pretty babes,
Rejoicing at that tide,

Rejoicing with a merry mind,
They would a cock-horse ride.

The two men conveyed them into the wood; and,
as they went, the children talked to them of what
they would do when they got all the pretty toys in
London town., And one of the men, who was
softer-hearted than the other, became sorry for
what he had taken in handtodo. But the second
man was hard, and he would not listen to his
fellow, and said he would kill them outright.
So they fell from words to blows; and they drew
their swords and fought; and he who was most
merciful in heart slew the other.
Now, when he saw that his fellow was dead, he
thought he might be taken and hanged for murder,
and that he must fly; but he could no ways see
what he could do with the poor babes, who stood
sobbing—frightened at seeing the men fighting.
He took the children by the hand,

Tears standing in their eye,
And bade them straightway follow him,

And look they did not cry.
And two long miles he led them on,

While they for food complain;
‘Stay here,’ said he, ‘I’ll bring you bread

When I come back again.’

Then he went away, and never came back. He
tan from the wood, and tried to escape into a
distant part of the country. Now, he had brought
the poor babes on very near to the edge of the
wood, and not a mile from where there were some
cottages, and he thought that they would make
their wey out from under the trees and be found
4.