he shorter ballads I quote the
title-poem of the present pamphlet, _The King's Wake_:

_THE KING'S WAKE_ {132}

_To-night is the night that the wake they hold_,
_To the wake repair both young and old_.

_Proud Signelil she her mother address'd_:
"_May I go watch along with the rest_?"

"_O what at the wake wouldst do my dear_?
_Thou'st neither sister nor brother there_.

"_Nor brother-in-law to protect thy youth_,
_To the wake thou must not go forsooth_.

"_There be the King and his warriors gay_,
_If me thou list thou at home wilt stay_."

"_But the Queen will be there and her maiden crew_,
_Pray let me go_, _mother_, _the dance to view_."

_So long_, _so long begged the maiden young_,
_That at length from her mother consent she wrung_.

"_Then go_, _my child_, _if thou needs must go_,
_But thy mother ne'er went to the wake I trow_."

_Then through the thick forest the maiden went_,
_To reach the wake her mind was bent_.

_When o'er the green meadows she had won_,
_The Queen and her maidens to bed were gone_.

_And when she came to the castle gate_
_They were plying the dance at a furious rate_.

_There danced full many a mail-clad man_,
_And the youthful King he led the van_.

_He stretched forth his hand with an air so free_:
"_Wilt dance_, _thou pretty maid_, _with me_?"

"_O_, _sir_, _I've come across the wold_
_That I with the Queen discourse might hold_."

"_Come dance_," _said the King with a courteous
smile_,
"_The Queen will be here in a little while_."

_Then forward she stepped like a blushing rose_,
_She takes his hand and to dance she goes_.

"_Hear Signelil what I say to thee_,
_A ditty of love sing thou to me_."

"_A ditty of love I will not_, _Sir King_,
_But as well as I can another I'll sing_."

_Proud Signil began_, _a ditty she sang_,
_To the ears of the Queen in her bed it rang_.

_Says the Queen in her chamber as she lay_:
"_O which of my maidens doth sing so gay_?

"_O which of my maidens doth sing so late_,
_To bed why followed they me not straight_?"

_Then answered the Queen the little foot page_:
"'_Tis none of thy maidens I'll engage_.

"'_Tis none I'll engage of the maiden band_,
'_Tis Signil proud from the islet's strand_."

"_O bring my red man