61 Worde ys commyn to lovly Londone, 62 till27 the fourth Harry our kynge, That lord Persë, leyff-tenante of the Marchis, he lay siayne Chyviat within. "God have merci on his solle," sayde Kyng Harry, "good Lord, yf thy will it be! I have a hondrith captayns in Ynglonde," he sayd, "as good as ever was he: But, Persë, and I brook28 my lyffe, 13 As our noble kynge mayd his avowe, 64 Wher syx and thrittë Skottishe knyghtes 05 This was the hontynge off the Cheviat, that tears begane this spurn32, 66 67 Old men that knowen the grownde well yenoughe call it the battell of Otterburn. At Otterburn begane this spurne uppone a Monnynday; Ther was the doughte Doglas slean, the Perse never went away. Ther was never a tym on the Marchepartës sen33 the Doglas and the Persë met, But yt ys mervele and34 the rede blude ronne not, as the reane doys35 in the stret. 38 Jhesue Crist our balys36 betes7, and to the blys us brynge! 8 O our Scots nobles wer richt laith O lang, lang may their ladies sit, Wi thair fans into their hand, Or eir they se Sir Patrick Spence Cum sailing to the land. O lang, lang may the ladies stand, For they'll se thame na mair. Haf owre, haf owre to Aberdour, And thair lies guid Sir Patrick Spence, Forsters, And he has calld for his gude gray hunds 11 'What news, what news?' says the Seven 2 'Ye'll busk1, ye'll busk my noble dogs, 3 Johnie's mother has gotten word o that, And care-bed she has taen5: 'O Johnie, for my benison, I beg you'l stay at hame; For the wine so red, and the well-baken bread, My Johnie shall want nane. 4 There are seven forsters at Pickeram Side, At Pickeram where they dwell, And for a drop of thy heart's bluid They wad ride the fords of hell.' 5 But Johnie has cast off the black velvet, And put on the Lincoln twine7, And he is on to gude greenwud As fast as he could gang. 6 Johnie lookit east, and Johnie lookit west, And he lookit aneath the sun, And there he spied the dun deer sleeping 7 Johnie shot, and the dun deer lap9, 8 He 'as taen out the little pen-knife, 'Twas full three quarters11 long, And he has taen out of that dun deer The liver bot12 and the tongue. 9 They eat of the flesh, and they drank of the blood, And the blood it was so sweet, 10 By then came an old palmer, 'What news have ye brought to me?' 12 As I cam in by Braıdısbanks, 13 The doublet15 which was over that 14 Up bespake the Seven Forsters, 15 O the first stroke that they gae him, 16 'O some they count ye well-wight17 men, But I do count ye nane; For you might well ha wakend me, 17 The wildest wolf in aw this wood 18 'O bows of yew, if ye be true, 19 He has killd the Seven Forsters, 6 When day was set, and friends were met, I say not nay, but that alle day And married to be, Lord Lauderdale came to the place, The bridal for to see. 7 'O are you come for sport, young man? Or are you come for play? 10 11 12 Or are you come for a sight o our bride, 'I'm nouther come for sport,' he says, 9 There was a glass of the red wine Then he took her by the milk-white hand, And he mounted her high behind him there, Then the blude run down by the Cowden And down by Cowden Braes, And ay she gards the trumpet sound, Now a' ye that in England are, Or are in England born, Come nere to Scotland to court a lass, 13 They haik ye up4 and settle ye by5, It is both wreten and said That woman's feyth is, as who seyth, But neverthelesse right good witnes Than betwen us let us discusse I pray you, geve an ere. I am the knyght; I com by nyght, Saying, 'Alas! thus stondith the caas, 1 all the while 2 then 3 their 4 i-fere, together *This poem is essentially a little drama, of which the first three stanzas constitute a kind of prologue and the last stanza an epilogue. In the first stanza one speaker propounds the general theme of the fickleness of womankind. In the second stanza, another speaker cites in refutation the story of the Nutbrown Mayde. Then the first speaker proposes that they two enact that story, and he begins by assuming the part of the man who pretended to be outlawed in order to "prove" the maid's love. The second speaker takes the part of the maid, and the dialogue continues regularly in alternate stanzas. It is readily seen that the poem, though for convenience grouped here with the ballads, is of a very different character from the folk-ballads proper, and a product of much more conscious art. Our text is that of the Balliol MS., with some very slight changes of spelling and the regular substitution of MAYDE for the more frequent marginal PUELLA of the manuscript. |