The Four Sisters

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.