This account of the story was published in a booklet entitled "A Guide to the Town of Watton and the Country adjacent thereto" by W.G. Clarke and published by George Self of Watton in 1909.

The fine old English ballad of "The Babes in the Wood" is one of the most popular in all parts of the country, but particularly in Norfolk, where the incidents narrated are firmly believed, by popular tradition, to have occurred. It will be remembered that a Norfolk gentleman of good estate happened to be dying at the same time as his wife, and left to his brother the care of his little boy about three years of age and a girl even younger. Provided the boy attained his majority he was to have £300 a year, and the little girl was to have £500 on her marriage-day, but should the children chance to die previously the money was to go to their uncle, who fully accepted the charge. After the death of their parents they were taken to the home of their uncle, who before "a twelvemonth and a day" had elapsed, devised to make off with them, so as to secure their money.

"He bargained with two ruffians strong,
Which were of furious mood,
That they should take the children young,
And slay them in a wood.
He told his wife an artful tale,
He would the children send
To be brought up in fair London
With one that was his friend."

The children went off happily, lured by the idea of pleasant games, and so prettily they prattled that one of those who undertook the deed relented, but the one who was hardest of heart vowed to do it because he had been well paid. So they debated furiously, then fought, and "he that was of mildest mood" slew his companion. He then took the children, who complained of hunger, and leaving them, said he would bring them bread.

"These pretty babes, with hand in hand,
Went wandering up and down,
But never more could see the man
Approaching from the town.
Their pretty lips with blackberries
Were all besmear'd and dyed,
And when they saw the darksome night,
They sat them down and cried.

Thus wandered these poor innocents,
Till death did end their grief
In one another's arms they died,
As wanting due relief.
No burial this pretty pair
Of any man receives,
Till Robin Redbreast piously
Did cover them with leaves."

Then the heavy wrath of God fell on their uncle. Fiends haunted his house, his conscience felt a hell, his barns were fired, his goods consumed, his lands made barren, his cattle died, and he was brought to want and misery. Death also came to two of his sons when on a voyage to Portugal, and ultimately he died in gaol, where he had been imprisoned for debt. Truth came out at last through the confession of the murderer, who had been condemned to death for a robbery he had committed.

A similar tale appears to have been current in Italy, the scene being laid in Padua, but in this there was only one child, a boy. The English version seems always to have been associated with Norfolk, as evidenced by a black letter copy entitled "The Children in the Wood; or the Norfolk Gentleman's Last Will and Testament," etc., in the Pepys collection in the British Museum, while in 1595 the following record was made in the hooks of the Stationers' Company:
"Thomas Millington entered for his copy under the hands of both wardens a ballad intituled 'The Norfolk Gentleman, his Will and Testament, and how he committed the keeping of his children to his own brother, who dealt most wickedly with them, and how God plagued him for it." It was dramatised at an early date, for in 1601 a play was pub-lished dealing with "Two Lamentable Tragedies," one being "of a young child murthered in a wood by two ruffins with the consent of his unkle."

Norfolk traditions have for centuries pointed to Wayland - or, as it was sometimes termed, "Wailing" Wood as the scene of the tragedy, while Griston Hall is described as the home of the wicked uncle. Wayland Wood lies south-east of Watton (see map right), on the Merton estate, and consists chiefly of ancient oaks with a thick undergrowth of hazel. It is best approached from Watton by taking the first turn to the left on the Thetford Road. Until destroyed by lightning in 1879, there was in this wood a huge oak said by the people of the neighbourhood to be that under which the babes actually died. This wood occupied, from early times, an important position in the Hundred after which it is named, for the Sheriff's Court was always held there.

South-east of Wayland Wood, back from the road, stands Griston Hall, now a farmhouse, and long traditionally known as "The house of the wicked uncle." Evidences of a moat show that there was a mansion here at an early date, but the oldest part of the present building, which is a rambling structure of red-brick, dates from 1597, a tablet in the centre of the front bearing these words : "God save the Queene. Thomas May. 1597." Since then, however, it has been so altered at various periods that its original form is hardly distinguishable. There can be no doubt that there were here, though they have been lost sight of, having been surreptitiously sold, carved oak representations of the two babes, two robins, and the wicked uncle. Evidence that the ballad was generally associated with the locality is also furnished by the fact that there are still at Merton Hall rooms called "The Room of the Wicked Uncle," "The Room of the Babes in the Wood" and "The Robin Room." The belief, firmly held by the children of south-west Norfolk, that any person taking robins' eggs will break a limb in the year ensuing, may have had some connection with this ancient local tradition.