
Redio, Tedio
(he) I want you to make me a cambric shirt
Fum-a-lum-a-link, sup-a-loo-my-nee
With neither seam nor needlework
Redio, tedio, toddle-bod-bedio
Fum-a-lum-a-link, sup-a-loo-my-nee
(she) I want you to buy me an acre of land
Between salt water and the sea-sand.
Plow it o'er with an old buck's horn
Plant it o'er with one peppercorn.
Reap it down with a peacock's feather
Bind it up with the sting of an adder.
Thrash it out with a mouse's tail
Cart it in on the back of a snail.
When you have completed your work
Come to me, you shall have your shirt.
Child #2
From Singing Tradition of Child's Popular Ballads, Bronson (3)
Collected from <rs. Sisie Carr Young, ME 1929, learned from
Sybil Emery in 1882
RG