Babes in the Wood

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Colour plates from Randolph Caldecott's book of the rhyme

|thumb|150px|The parents: so sick they were and like to die

|thumb|150px|"Now, brother", said the dying man, "look to my children dear"

|thumb|150px|With lips as cold as any stone, they kiss the children small

|thumb|150px|The parents being dead and gone, the children home he takes

|thumb|150px|Away then went those pretty babes, rejoicing at that tide

|thumb|150px|And he that was of mildest mood, did slaye the other there

|thumb|150px|These pretty babes, with hand in hand, went wandering up and down

|thumb|150px|In one another's arms they died

Babes in the Wood is a traditional English children's tale, as well as a popular pantomime subject. It has also been the name of some other unrelated works. The expression has passed into common language, referring to inexperienced innocents entering unawares into any potentially dangerous or hostile situation.

Traditional tale

The traditional children's tale is of two children abandoned in a wood, who die and are covered with leaves by robins.

It was first published as an anonymous broadside ballad by Thomas Millington in Norwich in 1595 with the title "The Norfolk gent his will and Testament and howe he Commytted the keepinge of his Children to his own brother whoe delte most wickedly with them and howe God plagued him for it".

The tale has been reworked in many forms; it frequently appears attributed as a Mother Goose rhyme. Around 1840, Richard Barham included a spoof of the story in his Ingoldsby Legends, under the title of The Babes in the Wood; or, the Norfolk Tragedy. Harris cheekily claims in an endnote It starred Bobby Bennett as Robin Hood, Peter Goodwright as Alan A'Dale, Susan Maughan as Maid Marian, Roy Rolland as Nanny Riley, John Gower as the Sheriff of Nottingham, Eddie Large as Private Large, Syd Little as Private Little, Colin Prince as Little John, Norman Collier as Will Scarlett, Bonnie Langford as Babe Tilly, and Mark Curry as Babe Willy. The village signs at Griston and nearby Watton depict the story. In the folklore version, the uncle resents the task and pays two men to take the children into the woods and kill them. Finding themselves unable to go through with the act, the criminals abandon the children in the wood where, unable to fend for themselves, they eventually die.

Another version, from Lancashire, has it that the tale is based on real events of 1374, when "the villainous Robert de Holland" illegally seized the land of 13 year-old Roger de Langley and his young bride. The children flee to the nearby woods and are cared for by loyal retainers until they are rescued by their legal guardian John of Gaunt.

Other cultural references

Music

The 1915 Broadway musical Very Good Eddie featured a song entitled Babes in the Wood by composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Schuyler Greene. Main character Eddie Kettle comforts former love Elsie Darling in a duet in which each refers to the traditional tale. A recording of this song was included in the 1993 CD Jerome Kern Treasury, sung by Hugh Panaro (Eddie) and Rebecca Luker (Elsie), and conducted by John McGlinn (Angel CDC 7 54883 2).<blockquote>

Eddie: Then put on your little hood,

And we'll both be, Oh, so good!

Like the babes in the wood.

Elsie: When the babes were lost in the gloomy wood,

It's no wonder they were so very good.

Fourteen angels were watching them,

So all the story books state, Sandman's coming now, it is getting late.

</blockquote>

Cole Porter's song Babes in the Wood, from his 1928 musical Paris, is a modern and sardonic rewriting of the story:

They were lying there in the freezing air

When fortunately there appeared

A rich old man in a big sedan

And a very,very fancy beard

He saw those girls and cheered

Then he drove them down to New York Town

Where he covered them with useful things

Such as bonds and stocks, and Paris frocks

</blockquote>

Traditional English singers Bob and Ron Copper sang Babes in the Wood and their version was released on the EFDSS LP Traditional Songs from Rottingdean. According to Steve Roud, the Coppers' abridged version of the story and the song's tune came from musician and composer William Gardiner.

Murders

Several murders of children in English-speaking countries have been nicknamed the "Babes in the Wood murders":

Babes in the Wood murders (Pine Grove Furnace), 1934; between Maryland and Pennsylvania, USA
Babes in the Wood murders (Stanley Park), ; Vancouver, Canada
Babes in the Wood murders (Epping Forest), 1970; Essex, England
Babes in the Wood murders (Brighton), 1986; Sussex, England

Notes

References

This includes the text of the Thomas Millington ballad.
This is the Mother Goose rhyme.

External links

The Babes in the Wood PDF with Lesson Plans
The Babes in the Wood The Babes in the Wood song lyrics with illustrations
The history of English pantomime
History of the story and its descendent versions
The Abandoned Children of Wailing Wood Animated and narrated version of the legend
Multiple fully online versions of Babes in the Wood from the University of Florida's Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature
Alternative origin for the Babes in the Wood Legend Agecroft Hall, near Prestwich, England)
babesinthewoods.skyrock.com
https://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=1592