+The Text+ is from a broadside of the seventeenth century from the press
of Coles, Vere, Wright, and Clarke, now preserved in the Rawlinson
collection in the Bodleian Library.
+The Story+ of this ballad is one of the common class of riddle-ballads.
Some of these riddles are found also in _Captain Wedderburn_.
It is not clear why in 18.1 'poyson is greener than the grass.' In
_Captain Wedderburn_ (17.1) it is 'death' that is greener than the
grass, which is equally inexplicable. A variant of the latter gives
'virgus' [= verjuice], a kind of vinegar, which obviously means 'green
juice.' It is possible that this might come to be regarded as a synonym
for 'poyson'; and the next step is to substitute 'death' for 'poyson.'