I have four sisters beyond the sea,

Para-mara, dictum, domine.

And they did send four presents to me,

Partum, quartum, paradise, tempum,

Para-mara, dictum, domine!

The first it was a bird without e'er a bone;

Para-mara, dictum, &c.

The second was a cherry without e'er a stone;

Partum, quartum, &c.

The third it was a blanket without e'er a thread,

Para-mara, dictum, &c.

The fourth it was a book which no man could read,

Partum, quartum, &c.

How can there be a bird without e'er a bone?

Para-mara, dictum, &c.

How can there be a cherry without e'er a stone?

Partum, quartum, &c.

How can there be a blanket without e'er a thread?

Para-mara, dictum, &c.

How can there be a book which no man can read?

Partum, quartum, &c.

When the bird's in the shell, there is no bone;

Para-mara, dictum, &c.

When the cherry's in the bud, there is no stone;

Partum, quartum, &c.

When the blanket's in the fleece, there is no thread;

Para-mara, dictum, &c.

When the book's in the press, no man can read;

Partum, quartum, &c.

Several versions of this metrical riddle are common in the North of England, and an ingenious antiquary has suggested that it is a parody on the old monkish songs! It will remind the reader of the Scottish ballad of Captain Wedderburn's Courtship,

O hold away from me, kind sir,

I pray you let me be;

For I will not go to your bed,

Till you dress me dishes three:

Dishes three you must dress to me,

And I must have them a',

Before that I lie in your bed,

Either at stock or wa'.

O I must have to my supper

A cherry without a stone;

And I must have to my supper

A chicken without a bone:

And I must have to my supper

A bird without a ga',

Before I lie into your bed,

Either at stock or wa'.

When the cherry is in the bloom,

I'm sure it hath no stone;

And when the chicken is in its shell,

I'm sure it hath no bone:

The dove it is a gentle bird,

It flies without a ga',

And we shall both lie in ae bed,

And thou's lie next the wa'.

The belief that a pigeon or dove has no gall forms the subject of a chapter in Browne's Vulgar and Common Errors, iii. 3. The gall-bladder does not exist in the dove.