HE.

Shall never be said the Nut-brown Maid

Was to her love unkind.

Make you ready, for so am I,
Although it were anone;

For, in my mind, of all mankind
I love but you alone.

Yet I you rede to make good heed
What men will think and say:
Of young, of old, it shall be told

That ye be gone away

Your wanton will for to fulfil,

In green-wood you to play;

And that ye might for your delight
No longer make delay.

95

100

Rather than ye should thus for me 105
Be called an ill womán

Yet would I to the green-wood go,
Alone, a banished man.

SHE. Though it be sung of old and young
That I should be to blame,

HE.

110

Theirs be the charge that speak so large In hurting of my name:

For I will prove that faithful love

It is devoid of shame:

In your distress and heaviness
To part with you the same;
And sure all tho that do not so
True lovers are they none:
For, in my mind, of all mankind
I love but you alone.

I counsel you, Remember how
It is no maiden's law

Nothing to doubt, but to run out
To wood with an outláw.

115

120

If I had need (as God forbede!)

What socours could ye find?" Forsooth I trow, you and your bow

For fear would draw behind. And no mervail; for little avail Were in your counsel than:

150

Wherefore I'll to the green-wood go, 155
Alone, a banished man.

SHE. Right well know ye that women be
But feeble for to fight;

No womanhede it is, indeed,
To be bold as a knight;
Yet in such fear if that ye were
With enemies day and night,

I would withstand, with bow in hand,
To grieve them as I might,
And you to save; as women have
From death men many one:
For, in my mind, of all mankind
I love but you alone.

160

165

HE.

I must alsó part of your woe Endure, as reason is:

Yet I am sure of one pleasure,

And shortly it is this—

180

185

That where ye be, me seemeth, pardé,

I could not fare amiss.

Without more speech I you beseech

That we were shortly gone;

For, in my mind, of all mankind

I love but you alone.

190

195

None other house, but leaves and boughs

To cover your head and mine.

Lo, mine heart sweet, this ill diéte
Should make you pale and wan:
Wherefore I'll to the green-wood go,
Alone, a banished man.

200

SHE. Among the wild deer such an archére 205
As men say that ye be,

Ne may not fail of such vitayle
Where is so great plenté:

Thither.

Else will I to the green-wood go,
Alone, a banished man.

SHE. I shall as now do more for you
Than 'longeth to womanhede;

HE.

To short my hair, a bow to bear,
To shoot in time of need.

O my sweet mother! before all other
For you I have most drede!

But now, adieu! I must ensue
Where fortune doth me lead.
All this make ye: Now let us flee;
The day cometh fast upon:
For, in my mind, of all mankind
I love but you alone.

Nay, nay, not so; ye shall not go,
And I shall tell you why-

Your appetite is to be light

For if ye, as ye said,

Be so unkind to leave behind

225

Your love, the Nut-brown Maid,

Trust me trulý that I shall die Soon after be gone:

285

Of love, I well espy:

For, right as ye have said to me,

245

In likewise hardily

Ye would answere whosoever it were,

ye

For, in my mind, of all mankind I love but you alone.

If that ye went, ye should repent; For in the forest now

I have purveyed me of a maid

235

240

Whom I love more than you: Another more fair than ever ye were

I dare it well avow;

And of you both each would be wroth
With other, as I trow:

It were mine ease to live in peace;
So will I, if I can:

Wherefore I to the wood will go,
Alone, a banished man.

SHE. Though in the wood I understood
Ye had a paramour,

HE.

254

290

294

300

All this may nought remove my thought,
But that I will be your':

And she shall find me soft and kind 305
And courteous every hour;
Glad to fulfil all that she will

Command me, to my power:
For had ye, lo, an hundred mo,
Yet would I be that one:

For, in my mind, of all mankind
I love but you alone.

Mine own dear love, I see the proves
That ye be kind and true;

Of maid, of wife, in all my life
The best that ever I knew;

Be merry and glad; be no more sad;
The case is changéd new;

For it were ruth that for your truth
Ye should have cause to rue.
Be not dismayed, whatsoever I said
To you when I began:

I will not to the green-wood go;
I am no banished man.

SHE. These tidings be more glad to me
Than to be made a queen,

If I were sure they should endure;
But it is often seen

7 Went.

310

315

320

325

• Proof.

Wherefore I to the wood will go,

Alone, a banished man.

Yet have you proved how I you loved,

A squire of low degree;

And ever shall, whatso befall,

To die therefore anone;

For, in my mind, of all mankind

I love but you alone.

A baron's child to be beguiled,
It were a cursed deed!

To be feláw with an outlaw-
Almighty God forbede!

• Health.

260

265

To Brigg o' Dread thou comest at last, And Christ receive thy saule.

20

1 A lyke-wake is the watch or vigil over a corpse. (O. E. lic, a dead body). The dirge here given is said to have been sung at funerals in Yorkshire down to 1624. 2 Probably a corruption of salt, which, through a popular superstition, was often placed on the breast of s corpse.

The whin is a furze or gorse, the moor-whin grows on bleak heaths, and has sharp spines or needles. "Whinnymuir" therefore suggests a great plain full of prickles, and most painful to traverse.