two pretty boys were goin tae the school and one evening coming home says william to john can you throw a stone or can you play at a ball a ball or can you play at a ball says john to william i canna throw a stone little can i play at a ball but if you ll go down to a merry green woods i ll try you a wrestlin fall a fall i ll try you a wrestlin fall so they went down tae a merry green woods beneath the spreadin bough the little penknife fell out of william s coat and gave john his deadly wound wound and gave john his deadly wound ah now you ll take off your white holland shirt and teer it frae gore tae gore and you will bind my deadly wounds that they might bleed no more no more that they might bleed no more so he s ta en off his white holland shirt and he s torn it frae gore tae gore and though he s bound his deadly wounds ah they bled ten times more more they bled ten times more ah but what shall i tell to your father dear this night when i go home tell him i m away to a london school and a good scholar i ll come home home a good scholar i ll come home ah but what shall i tell to your sister dear this night when i go home tell her i m away to a london school and the good books i ll bring home home the good books i ll bring home ah but what shall i tell to your sweetheart dear this night when i go home tell her i m dead and in the grave laid and the grass is growin green green the grass is growin green ah but what shall i tell to your stepmother dear this night when i go home tell her i m dead and in the grave laid for she prayed i might never come home home she prayed i might never come home