(Refrain:
Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child;
By, by, lully, lullay.)

1. O sisters two,
How may we do
For to preserve this day
This poor youngling
For whom we do sing
By, by lully lullay?

2. Herod the king,
In his raging,
Charg�¨d he hath this day
His men of might,
In his own sight
All young children to slay.

3. That woe is me,
Poor child, for thee,
And ever mourn and say:
For thy parting
Neither say nor sing
By, by, lully lullay.

abc | midi | pdf

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Source: The Penguin Book of Christmas Carols, ed. Elizabeth Poston.

Notes:
"English, from the Pageant of Shearmen and Tailors of the Coventry Cycle, fifteenth century, published by Thomas Sharp in his Dissertations on the Pageants, or Dramatic Mysteries, anciently performed at Coventry, 1825, University Library, Cambridge, from the sixteenth-century MS. of Robert Croo."

Roud: 19028 (Search Roud index at VWML)
Laws:
Child:

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Related Songs:  Lulle Lullay [Coventry Carol] (thematic)