Ballads of Mystery and Miracle and Fyttes of Mirth Part 40

57.

When the lady came before her father, She fell low down upon her knee; 'Grant me, father,' the lady said, 'This boy my chamberlain to be.'

58.

'But O nay, nay,' the duke did say, 'So, my daughter, it may not be; The lord that is come a wooing to you Will be offended with you and me.'

59.

Then came down the false steward Which called himself the lord of Learne, truly: When he looked that bonny boy upon, An angry man i-wis was he.

60.

'Where was thou born, thou vagabond?

'Where?' he said, 'and in what country?'

Says, 'I was born in fair Scotland That is so far beyond the sea.'

61.

'What is thy name, thou vagabond?

Have done quickly, and tell it to me.'

'My name,' he says, 'is poor Disaware; I tend sheep on the lonely lea.'

'Thou art a thief,' the steward said, 'And so in the end I will prove thee.'

62.

Then bespake the lady fair, 'Peace, lord of Learne! I do pray thee; For if no love you show this child, No favour can you have of me.'

63.

'Will you believe me, lady fair, When the truth I do tell ye?

At Aberdonie beyond the sea His father he robbed a hundred [and] three.'

64.

But then bespake the duke of France Unto the boy so tenderly, Says, 'Boy, if thou love horses well, My stable groom I will make thee.'

65.

And thus that that did pa.s.s upon Till the twelve months did draw to an end; The boy applied his office so well, Every man became his friend.

66.

He went forth early one morning To water a gelding at the water so free; The gelding up, and with his head He hit the child above his eye.

67.

'Woe be to thee, thou gelding!' he said, 'And to the mare that foaled thee!

Thou has stricken the lord of Learne A little tiny above the eye.

68.

'First night after I was born, a lord I was; An earl after my father doth die; My father is the worthy lord of Learne; His child he hath no more but me; He sent me over the sea with the false steward, And thus that he hath beguiled me.'

69.

The lady [wa]s in her garden green, Walking with her maids, truly, And heard the boy this mourning make, And went to weeping truly.

70.

'Sing on thy song, thou stable groom, I pray thee do not let for me, And as I am a true lady I will be true unto thee.'

71.

'But nay, now nay, madam!' he said, 'So that it may not be, I am ta'en sworn upon a book, And forsworn I will not be.'

72.

'Sing on thy song to thy gelding And thou dost not sing to me; And as I am a true lady I will ever be true unto thee.'

73.

He said, 'Woe be to thee, gelding, And to the mare that foaled thee!

For thou hast stricken the lord of Learne A little above mine eye.

74.

'First night I was born, a lord I was; An earl after my father doth die; My father is the good lord of Learne, And child he hath no other but me.

My father sent me over with the false steward, And thus that he hath beguiled me.

75.

'Woe be to the steward, lady,' he said, 'Woe be to him verily!

He hath been above this twelve months' day For to deceive both thee and me.

76.

'If you do not my counsel keep That I have told you with good intent, And if you do it not well keep, Farewell! my life is at an end.'

77.

'I will be true to thee, lord of Learne, Or else Christ be not so unto me; And as I am a true lady, I'll never marry none but thee!'

78.

She sent in for her father, the duke, In all the speed that e'er might be; 'Put off my wedding, father,' she said, 'For the love of G.o.d, these months three.

79.

'Sick I am,' the lady said, 'O sick, and very like to die!

Put off my wedding, father duke, For the love of G.o.d, these months three.'

80.

The duke of France put off this wedding Of the steward and the lady, months three; For the lady sick she was, Sick, sick, and like to die.

81.

She wrote a letter with her own hand, In all the speed that ever might be; She sent over into Scotland That is so far beyond the sea.

82.

When the messenger came before the old lord of Learne, He kneeled low down on his knee, And he delivered the letter unto him In all the speed that ever might be.

83.

First look he looked the letter upon, Lo! he wept full bitterly; The second look he looked it upon, Said, 'False steward! woe be to thee!'

84.

When the lady of Learne these tidings heard, O Lord! she wept so bitterly: 'I told you of this, now good my lord, When I sent my child into that wild country.'

85.

'Peace, lady of Learne,' the lord did say, 'For Christ his love I do pray thee; And as I am a Christian man, Wroken upon him that I will be.'

86.