And, ere we go, a bed or two
I can provide anon :

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

HE.

'Lo! yet before, ye must do more
If ye will go with me:

As cut your hair up by the ear,
Your kirtle by the knee,-
With bow in hand for to withstand
Your enemies, if need be;
And this same night before daylight
To woodward will I flee.

And if ye will all this fulfil,

Do it shortly as ye can!
Else I will to the green wood go
Alone, a banish'd man."

SHE.

"I shall as now do more for you

Than 'longeth to womanhede,— 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 dread;

But now adieu! I must ensue

Where fortune doth me lead.

All this make ye! Now let us flee !

The day comes fast upon:
For in my mind of all mankind
I love but you alone."

HE.

"Nay! nay! not so: ye shall not go !

And I shall tell you why:

Your appetite is to be light
Of love, I well espy.

For like as ye have said to me,

In like wise hardily

Ye would answer whosoever it were,

In way of company.

It is said of old-Soon hot, soon cold:

And so is a woman.

Wherefore I to the wood will go

Alone, a banish'd man."

SHE.

"If ye take heed, it is no need

Such words to say to me,

For oft ye pray'd, and long essay'd,

Ere I you loved, perdè!

And though that I of ancestry

A baron's daughter be,

Yet have you proved how I you loved,
A squire of low degree;

And ever shall, whatso befall,

To-day therefore anon:

For in my mind of all mankind

I love but you alone."

HE.

"A baron's child to be beguiled,—

It were a cursed deed;
To be fellow with an outlaw,
Almighty God forbid !

Yet better were the poor squièr

Alone to forest yede

Than ye should say,

another day,

That by my wicked deed

Ye were betray'd: wherefore, good maid!

The best rede that I can

Is that I to the green wood go

Alone, a banish'd man."

SHE.

"Whatsoever befall, I never shall
Of this thing you upbraid;

But if ye go, and leave me so,
Then have ye me betray'd.

Remember you well, how that you deal!
For if ye, as ye said,

Be so unkind to leave behind

Your Love, the Nut-brown Maid,

Trust me truly that I shall die

Soon after ye be gone,

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

HE.

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

I have purvey'd me of a maid

Whom I love more than you,-
Another fairèr than ever ye were,
I dare it well avow;

And of you both each should 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 banish'd man."

SHE.

"Though in the wood I understood

Ye had a paramour,

All this may not remove my thought
But that I will be your;

And she shall find me soft and kind

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."

HE.

"Mine own dear love! I see the proof
That ye be kind and true,-
Of maid and wife in all my life

The best that ever I knew.

Be merry and glad! be no more sad!
The case is changèd new :

For it were ruth that for your truth
You should have cause to rue.
Be not dismay'd! whatsoever I said
To you when I began,

I will not to the green wood go:

I am no banish'd 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

}

When men will break promise they speak

The words upon the spleen.

Ye shape some wile me to beguile

And steal from me, I ween;

Then were the case worse than it was,

And I more woe-begone :

For in my mind of all mankind

I love but you alone."

HE.

"Ye shall not need further to dread :

I will not disparage You (God defend!), Of so great lineage.

since you

descend

Now understand! To Westmereland,
Which is mine heritage,

I will you bring; and with a ring
By way of marriage

I will you take, and lady make
As shortly as I can :

Thus have ye won an earlè's son,
And not a banish'd man."

Here may ye see that women be
In love meek, kind, and stable :
Let never man reprove them than
Or call them variable!

But rather pray God that we may
To them be comfortable :

Which sometime proveth such as he loveth,
If they be charitàble.

For since men would that women should
Be meek to them each one,

Much more ought they to God obey,

And serve but Him alone.

ROBIN HOOD AND THE MONK,

In summer when the shaws be sheen,
And leaves be large and long,

It is full merry in fair forest

To hear the fowlès song;

To see the deer draw to the dale
And leave the hillès hie
And shadow them in the leavès green
Under the green-wood tree.

It befell on a Whitsuntide,
Early in a May morning,
The sun up fair gan shine

And the birds merry gan sing.