HE. Shall never be said the Nut-brown Maid Was to her love unkind. Make you ready, for so am I, For, in my mind, of all mankind Yet I you rede to make good heed That ye be gone away Your wanton will for to fulfil, In green-wood you to play; And that ye might for your delight 95 100 Rather than ye should thus for me 105 Yet would I to the green-wood go, SHE. Though it be sung of old and young HE. 110 Theirs be the charge that speak so large In hurting of my name: For I will prove that faithful love It is devoid of shame: In your distress and heaviness I counsel you, Remember how Nothing to doubt, but to run out 115 120 If I had need (as God forbede!) What socours could ye find?" Forsooth I trow, you and your bow For fear would draw behind. And no mervail; for little avail Were in your counsel than: 150 Wherefore I'll to the green-wood go, 155 SHE. Right well know ye that women be No womanhede it is, indeed, I would withstand, with bow in hand, 160 165 HE. I must alsó part of your woe Endure, as reason is: Yet I am sure of one pleasure, And shortly it is this— 180 185 That where ye be, me seemeth, pardé, I could not fare amiss. Without more speech I you beseech That we were shortly gone; For, in my mind, of all mankind I love but you alone. 190 195 None other house, but leaves and boughs To cover your head and mine. Lo, mine heart sweet, this ill diéte 200 SHE. Among the wild deer such an archére 205 Ne may not fail of such vitayle Thither. Else will I to the green-wood go, SHE. I shall as now do more for you HE. To short my hair, a bow to bear, O my sweet mother! before all other But now, adieu! I must ensue Nay, nay, not so; ye shall not go, Your appetite is to be light For if ye, as ye said, Be so unkind to leave behind 225 Your love, the Nut-brown Maid, Trust me trulý that I shall die Soon after be gone: 285 Of love, I well espy: For, right as ye have said to me, 245 In likewise hardily Ye would answere whosoever it were, ye For, in my mind, of all mankind I love but you alone. If that ye went, ye should repent; For in the forest now I have purveyed me of a maid 235 240 Whom I love more than you: Another more fair than ever ye were I dare it well avow; And of you both each would be wroth It were mine ease to live in peace; Wherefore I to the wood will go, SHE. Though in the wood I understood HE. 254 290 294 300 All this may nought remove my thought, And she shall find me soft and kind 305 Command me, to my power: For, in my mind, of all mankind Mine own dear love, I see the proves Of maid, of wife, in all my life Be merry and glad; be no more sad; For it were ruth that for your truth I will not to the green-wood go; SHE. These tidings be more glad to me If I were sure they should endure; 7 Went. 310 315 320 325 • Proof. Wherefore I to the wood will go, Alone, a banished man. Yet have you proved how I you loved, A squire of low degree; And ever shall, whatso befall, To die therefore anone; For, in my mind, of all mankind I love but you alone. A baron's child to be beguiled, To be feláw with an outlaw- • Health. 260 265 To Brigg o' Dread thou comest at last, And Christ receive thy saule. 20 1 A lyke-wake is the watch or vigil over a corpse. (O. E. lic, a dead body). The dirge here given is said to have been sung at funerals in Yorkshire down to 1624. 2 Probably a corruption of salt, which, through a popular superstition, was often placed on the breast of s corpse. The whin is a furze or gorse, the moor-whin grows on bleak heaths, and has sharp spines or needles. "Whinnymuir" therefore suggests a great plain full of prickles, and most painful to traverse. |