,' quoth he, 'my master dear,
I hold it time to be gone.

14.
'For I have saddled your horse, master,
Well bridled I have your steed;
Have not I served a good breakfast?
When time comes I have need.'

15.
But up then rose good Glasgerion,
And did on both hose and shoon,
And cast a collar about his neck;
He was a kinges son.

16.
And when he came to that lady's chamber,
He thrilled upon a pin;
The lady was more than true of her promise,
Rose up, and let him in.

17.
Says, 'Whether have you left with me
Your bracelet or your glove?
Or are you back returned again
To know more of my love?'

18.
Glasgerion swore a full great oath
By oak and ash and thorn,
'Lady, I was never in your chamber
Sith the time that I was born.'

19.
'O then it was your little foot-page
Falsely hath beguiled me':
And then she pull'd forth a little pen-knife
That hanged by her knee,
Says, 'There shall never no churles blood
Spring within my body.'

20.
But home then went Glasgerion,
A woe man, good [Lord], was he;
Says, 'Come hither, thou Jack, my boy,
Come thou thither to me.

21.
'For if I had killed a man to-night,
Jack, I would tell it thee;
But if I have not killed a man to-night,
Jack, thou hast killed three!'

22.
And he pull'd out his bright brown sword,
And dried it on his sleeve,
And he smote off that lither lad's head,
And asked no man no leave.

23.
He set the sword's point till his breast,
The pommel till a stone;
Thorough that falseness of that lither lad
These three lives were all gone.

[Annotations:
1.4: Folio:-- 'where cappe & candle yoode.' Percy in the _Reliques_
(1767) printed 'cuppe and _caudle_ stoode.'
1.6: 'wood,' mad, wild (with delight).
3.2: 'blin,' cease.
4.4: _i.e._ durst never speak my mind.
6.1: 'home'; Folio _whom_.
7.3,4: These lines are reversed in the Folio.
9.1: 'lither,' idle, wicked.
10.2: 'thrilled,' twirled or rattled; cp. 'tirled at the pin,' a stock
ballad phrase (Scots).
12.2: 'yode,' went.
14.4: 'time': Folio _times_.
17.3: Folio _you are_.
22.2: Another commonplace of the ballads. The Scotch variant is
generally, 'And striped it thro' the straw.' See special section
of the Introduction.
23.1,2: 'till,' to, against.]

YOUNG BEKIE

+The Text+ is that of the Jam