Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD.

He told his wife, and all he knew,
He would the children send
To be brought up in fair London,
With one that was his friend.

Away then went the pretty babes,
Rejoicing at that tide,
Rejoicing with a merry mind
They should on cock-horse ride.

They prate and prattle pleasantly,
As they ride on the way,

To those that should their butchers be,
And work their lives' decay:

So that the pretty speech they had
Made murderers' hearts relent;
And they that took the deed to do
Full sore they did repent.

Yet one of them, more hard of heart,
Did vow to do his charge,
Because the wretch that hired him

Had paid him very large.

The other would not agree thereto,
So here they fell at strife;
With one another they did fight

About the children's life.

85

[graphic]

He took the children by the hand,
When tears stood in their eye,

And bade them come and go with him,
And look they did not cry.

THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD.

And two long miles he led them thus,
While they for bread complain:

"Stay here," quoth he; "I'll bring ye bread
When I do come again."

These pretty babes, with hand in hand,

Went wandering up and down;
But never more they saw the man
Approaching from the town.

Their pretty lips with blackberries
Were all besmeared and dyed,
And when they saw the darksome night
They sat them down and cried.

Thus wandered these two pretty babes
Till death did end their grief,
In one another's arms they died,
As babes wanting relief.

No burial these pretty babes

[blocks in formation]

And now the heavy wrath of God

Upon their uncle fell;

Yea, fearful fiends did haunt his house,

His conscience felt a hell.

87

888

THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD.

His barns were fired, his goods consumed,

His lands were barren made;

His cattle died within the field,

And nothing with him stayed.

And in a voyage to Portugal
Two of his sons did die ;

And, to conclude, himself was brought
Unto much misery.

He pawned and mortgaged all his lands
Ere seven years came about;
And now, at length, this wicked act
By this means did come out :

The fellow that did take in hand
These children for to kill

Was for a robbery judged to die,
As was God's blessed will.

Who did confess the very truth
That is herein expressed:

The uncle died, while he, for debt,
Did in a prison rest.

[blocks in formation]

Now, he who knows old Christmas,
He knows a carle of worth;

For he is as good a fellow
As any upon the earth.

He comes warm-cloaked and coated
And buttoned up to the chin :
And soon as he comes a-nigh the door
We open and let him in.

89

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »