The Pendle witch trials of 1612 are one of the largest and most famous of their kind in English history. Whilst there were many factors which acted as a catalyst to these accusations, one of the most intriguing is an incident involving a young girl called Alizon Device. She was accused of bewitching a man who had suffered a stroke not long after they had an altercation. Alizon believed in her own guilt and sought forgiveness, but it didn’t save her. There are no surviving contemporaneous ballads connected to these events, so Laura decided to write her own.
lyrics
How strange it is to think that a poor beggar girl like me
Should now be known to all that live across this broad county
I was born and raised at Malkin Tower where I expected to remain
But now I've been condemned to die, I'll never see my home again
My mother is a poor woman my father I've never known
My grandmother, a wise-woman, she raised me as her own
She taught me all that she did know when I was still a child
And together we would ramble o're the moors for miles
How I wish I was still on the moors of Pendle Hill
Where the sweet heather blooms all the day
One day as I was walking in the spring time of the year
I met with a bold pedlar on the road through Lancashire
Kind sir, said I, please stop awhile and sell three pins to me
For I have two and sixpence which I'll gladly spend with thee
He looked at my torn petticoat and to me these words did say
You take me for a fool, young girl, I know you cannot pay
If you have two and sixpence, then I'm the king of Spain
And then he turned away from me and walked on just the same
How I wish...
And when he spoke these spiteful words it made my heart full sore
I vowed he would not speak such words to young maids anymore
And at these thoughts my will was done, down the pedlar fell
And all the while I feared that I had damned my soul to hell
Can life be such a feeble thing to perish at a whim
Though men may not forgive my crimes may god forgive my sins
Farewell mother, my brother, and my sister too
And when I'm covered in cold clay, may the lord watch over you
How I wish..
credits
from The Poacher's Fate,
released November 25, 2017
Written by Laura Smyth, arranged by Laura Smyth & Ted Kemp
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