Mary of the Wild Moor

1. It was on a cold winter's night
As the wind blew across the wild moor,
That poor Mary came wandering home with her babe,
And she came to her own father's door.

2. "O father, dear father," she cried,
"Come down and open the door,
Or the child in my arms will perish and die
By the winds that blow across the wild moor."

3. "Oh why did I leave this dear spot
Where once I was happy and free?
But now I’m to roam without friends or a home,
And no one to take pity on me?"

4. But the old man was deaf to her cries.
Not a sound of her voice reaches his ears.
The village bells tolled…
And the winds blew across the wild moor.

5. Oh how must the old man have felt
When he came to the door in the morn?
Poo Mary was dead, the child was alive,
Closely pressed in its dead mother's arms.

6. Half frantic he tore his gray hair
And the tears down his cheeks they did pour,
Saying, "This cold night she has perished and died, 
By the winds that blow across the wild moor."

7. The old man in grief pined away.
The child to its mother went soon.
And no one, they say, has lived there to this day,
And the cottage to ruin has gone.

8. The villagers point out the spot
Where the willow droops over the door,
Saying, "There Mary died, once a gay village bride,
By the winds that blew across the wild moor."


This song from England in the early 1800's soon became well-known in the United States.  This particular variation was collected in North Carolina in May, 1920 and published in the Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore in 1952.