Just a Washerwoman

King wants instructor of magic, that foolish man
Same time he hunts all the wizards and witches in the land
Charlatan with no magic power wants to get rich
So he fools the king into thinking he’s a wizard with a few simple tricks

Now, the charlatan gets appointed as king’s Sorcerer-in-Chief
But he doesn’t know I’m watching, and that I know he’s a thief

Yeah, I may be just a washerwoman, but I know
That magic is inherited and can’t be taught
So I’ll just watch the king from behind my windowpane
Babbity Rabbity is my name

King tries harder and harder to do a spell
I laugh because he is failing and charlatan as well
King wants to show off his magic, though he has none
He plans a demonstration, and warns the charlatan not to run

Now, the charlatan has realized that I am magical
And he says if I don’t help him, that he will run and tell

Yeah, I may be just a washerwoman, but I know
That magic is inherited and can’t be taught
So I’ll just help the king from outside my windowpane
Babbity Rabbity is my name

The next day, a crowd has gathered
To see what the king has mastered
With my help, he makes a hat disappear and a horse fly around, but he couldn’t raise the dead
[spoken:] ‘Cause no magic can raise the dead

‘Why doesn’t it work?’
‘There, your Majesty, there. I see her plain, a wicked witch who is blocking your magic with her own evil spells. Seize her, somebody, seize her!’

[sung:]
I run and I am followed by hunting hounds
I stop by an ageing old tree and I vanish into the ground
They think I’m inside the tree, so they cut it and it lands with a thump
They think they’re safe to go home, but I cackle from inside the stump

I tell them they are cursed for killing a witch
And make the charlatan admit that he’s a lying … prat

Though I am just a washerwoman, I proclaim
That you construct a monument in my name
And treat wizards and witches just the same as you
Yeah, that’s what you’re going to do

Now I am just a rabbit; Babbity Rabbity is my name