lonely cell
They saw a mournful dame.

Her gentle eyes were dimm'd with tears;
Her cheeks were pale with woe;
And long sir Valentine besought
Her doleful tale to know.

Alas! young knight, she weeping said,
Condole my wretched fate;
A childless mother here you see;
A wife without a mate.

These twenty winters here forlorn
I've drawn my hated breath;
Sole witness of a monster's crimes,
And wishing aye for death.

Know, I am sister of a king,
And in my early years
Was married to a mighty prince,
The fairest of his peers.

With him I sweetly liv'd in love
A twelvemonth and a day:
When, lo! a foul and treacherous priest
Y-wrought our loves' decay.

His seeming goodness won him pow'r;
He had his master's ear:
And long to me and all the world
He did a saint appear.

One day, when we were all alone,
He proffer'd odious love:
The wretch with horror I repuls'd,
And from my presence drove.

He feign'd remorse, and piteous begg'd
His crime I'd not reveal:
Which, for his seeming penitence,
I promis'd to conceal.

With treason, villainy, and wrong,
My goodness he repay'd:
With jealous doubts he fill'd my lord,
And me to woe betray'd.

He hid a slave within my bed,
Then rais'd a bitter cry.
My lord, possess'd with rage, condemn'd
Me, all unheard, to die.

But 'cause I then was great with child,
At length my life he spar'd:
But bade me instant quit the realm,
One trusty knight my guard.

Forth on my journey I depart,
Oppressed with grief and woe:
And tow'rds my brother's distant court,
With breaking heart, I go.

Long time thro' sundry foreign lands
We slowly pace along:
At length, within a forest wild,
I fell in labour strong:

And while the knight for succour sought,
And left me there forlorn,
My childbed pains so fast increas'd
Two lovely boys were born.

The eldest fair and smooth as snow
That tips the mountain hoar;
The younger's little body rough
With hairs was cover'd o'er.

But here afresh begin my woes:
While tender care I took
To shield my eldest from the cold,
And wrap him in my cloak,

A prowling bear burst from the wood,
And seiz'd my younger so