d ever when my lord Barnard's horn blew,
'Away, Musgrave, away!'
15.
'Methinks I hear the thresel-cock,
Methinks I hear the jaye;
Methinks I hear my Lord Barnard,
And I would I were away!'
16.
'Lye still, lye still, thou little Musgrave,
And huggell me from the cold;
'Tis nothing but a shephard's boy
A driving his sheep to the fold.
17.
'Is not thy hawke upon a perch,
Thy steed eats oats and hay,
And thou a fair lady in thine armes,
And wouldst thou bee away?'
18.
With that my lord Barnard came to the dore,
And lit a stone upon;
He plucked out three silver keys
And he open'd the dores each one.
19.
He lifted up the coverlett,
He lifted up the sheet:
'How now, how now, thou Little Musgrave,
Doest thou find my lady sweet?'
20.
'I find her sweet,' quoth Little Musgrave,
'The more 'tis to my paine;
I would gladly give three hundred pounds
That I were on yonder plaine.'
21.
'Arise, arise, thou Little Musgrave,
And put thy clothes on;
It shall nere be said in my country
I have killed a naked man.
22.
'I have two swords in one scabberd,
Full deere they cost my purse;
And thou shalt have the best of them,
And I will have the worse.'
23.
The first stroke that Little Musgrave stroke,
He hurt Lord Barnard sore;
The next stroke that Lord Barnard stroke,
Little Musgrave nere struck more.
24.
With that bespake this faire lady,
In bed whereas she lay:
'Although thou'rt dead, thou Little Musgrave,
Yet I for thee will pray.
25.
'And wish well to thy soule will I,
So long as I have life;
So will I not for thee, Barnard,
Although I am thy wedded wife.'
26.
He cut her paps from off her brest;
Great pitty it was to see
That some drops of this ladies heart's blood
Ran trickling downe her knee.
27.
'Woe worth you, woe worth, my mery men all,
You were nere borne for my good;
Why did you not offer to stay my hand,
When you see me wax so wood?
28.
'For I have slaine the bravest sir knight
That ever rode on steed;
So have I done the fairest lady
That over did woman's deed.
29.
'A grave, a grave,' Lord Barnard cry'd,
'To put these lovers in;
But lay my lady on the upper hand,
For she came of the better kin.'
[Annotations:
3.2: 'pall,' a cloak: some versions re
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