Excerpts from the "The Children's Book of the Just & Shriven", Publishers Tyboldt & Clyde, Circa 1752 AD):

Preface:

'déadhrægl, hwonne gewrit frumslæp, stefn always unstille...'

Old English translation: 'The dead, when they sleep, are always restless...'

-----oOo-----

Tokens

A penny for the alderman
A farthing for a bell
A shilling for the grave maker
To bury little Nell

A token for the bishop
Two for the priests who ran away
Three for the king in his country house
While the poor left alone still pray

A penny for the alderman
A farthing for a bell
A shilling for a coffin
To bury little Nell

-----oOo-----

The Clip-Clop Man

"Who was the angel
who fought wing and bone
to overthrow heaven
and lay claim to its throne."

"The first fallen was Satan
who made his last stand
then came his rebel angels
and the old clip-clop man..."

-----oOo-----

Pay the Pied Piper

Pay the pied piper
A good and princely sum
To gather all the children
When the day is done

Pay him for his music
A haunting piping tune
While the children are sleeping
With the worms inside their tombs

-----oOo-----

Sarah’s Lament

Sweet and godly Sarah
Is pure as the driven snow
She swims among the bulrushes
Where the crystal water flows

Her father is the ruler
Of this hallowed place
He swam among the bulrushes
And became Sarah’s disgrace

-----oOo-----

The Tale of Celestine

Celestine gathers flowers
Celestine wears a tattered cloak
Celestine plays with dew drops
Beneath the hangman's rope

She dances in the moonlight
With dead flowers in her hair
Placing kisses on the coffins
Of the children laying there

Celestine has no family
She’s always outside all alone
She hides among the shadows
Gnawing on a finger bone

Celestine gathers flowers
From the graves without a care
Placing kisses on the stony brows
Of the children lying there…

-----oOo-----

The Marzipan Man

Be quiet little children
As quiet as can be
Hide beneath your covers
Just in case he’ll hear

Hold your breath, sweet children
Be as quiet as a mouse
Listen in case he’s creeping
There inside your house

Lock up all the doors and windows
Put a boiling pot upon the grate
Lest the marzipan man comes a-calling
With his razor to cut your throat

-----oOo-----

The Sleeping Princess

She sleeps among the tulips
She sleeps among the reeds
She sleeps like death has touched her
With his killing deeds

A comely prince is watching
As she sleeps her deathless sleep
In the hope that he may woo her
Forever his to keep

He steals up to her polished bier
To feel the heave of her breast
She sleeps like death has claimed her
Into a dark, eternal rest

So he lays his head upon her
His love a smouldering need
He looks while she is sleeping
And plants his loving seed…