{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/eng/child/ch074.htm","path":"neu/eng/child/ch074.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch074.htm","text":"74A.1 As it fell out on a long summer\u2019s day,\nTwo lovers they sat on a hill;\nThey sat together that long summer\u2019s day,\nAnd could not talk their fill.\n74A.2 \u2018I see no harm by you, Margaret,\nNor you see none by me;\nBefore tomorrow eight a clock\nA rich wedding shall you see.\u2019\n74A.3 Fair Margaret sat in her bower-window,\nA combing of her hair,\nAnd there she spy\u2019d Sweet William and his bride,\nAs they were riding near.\n74A.4 Down she layd her ivory comb,\nAnd up she bound her hair;\nShe went her way forth of her bower,\nBut never more did come there.\n74A.5 When day was gone, and night was come,\nAnd all men fast asleep,\nThen came the spirit of Fair Margaret,\nAnd stood at William\u2019s feet.\n74A.6 \u2018God give you joy, you two true lovers,\nIn bride-bed fast asleep;\nLoe I am going to my green grass grave,\nAnd am in my winding-sheet.\u2019\n74A.7 When day was come, and night was gone,\nAnd all men wak\u2019d from sleep,\nSweet William to his lady said,\nMy dear, I have cause to weep.\n74A.8 \u2018I dreamd a dream, my dear lady;\nSuch dreams are never good;\nI dreamd my bower was full of red swine,\nAnd my bride-bed full of blood.\u2019\n74A.9 \u2018Such dreams, such dreams, my honoured lord,\nThey never do prove good,\nTo dream thy bower was full of swine,\nAnd [thy] bride-bed full of blood.\u2019\n74A.10 He called up his merry men all,\nBy one, by two, and by three,\nSaying, I\u2019ll away to Fair Margaret\u2019s bower,\nBy the leave of my lady.\n74A.11 And when he came to Fair Margaret\u2019s bower,\nHe knocked at the ring;\nSo ready was her seven brethren\nTo let Sweet William in.\n74A.12 He turned up the covering-sheet:\n\u2018Pray let me see the dead;\nMethinks she does look pale and wan,\nShe has lost her cherry red.\n74A.13 \u2018I\u2019ll do more for thee, Margaret,\nThan any of thy kin;\nFor I will kiss thy pale wan lips,\nTho a smile I cannot win.\u2019\n74A.14 With that bespeak her seven brethren,\nMaking most pitious moan:\n\u2018You may go kiss your jolly brown bride,\nAnd let our sister alone.\u2019\n74A.15 \u2018If I do kiss my jolly brown bride,\nI do but what is right;\nFor I made no vow to your sister dear,\nBy day or yet by night.\n74A.16 \u2018Pray tell me then how much you\u2019ll deal\nOf your white bread and your wine;\nSo much as is dealt at her funeral today\nTomorrow shall be dealt at mine.\u2019\n74A.17 Fair Margaret dy\u2019d today, today,\nSweet William he dy\u2019d the morrow;\nFair Margaret dy\u2019d for pure true love,\nSweet William he dy\u2019d for sorrow.\n74A.18 Margaret was buried in the lower chancel,\nSweet William in the higher;\nOut of her breast there sprung a rose,\nAnd out of his a brier.\n74A.19 They grew as high as the church-top,\nTill they could grow no higher,\nAnd then they grew in a true lover\u2019s knot,\nWhich made all people admire.\n74A.20 There came the clerk of the parish,\nAs you this truth shall hear,\nAnd by misfortune cut them down,\nOr they had now been there.\n74B: Fair Margaret and Sweet William\n74B.1 SWEET WILLIAM would a wooing ride,\nHis steed was lovely brown;\nA fairer creature than Lady Margaret\nSweet William could find none.\n74B.2 Sweet William came to Lady Margaret\u2019s bower,\nAnd knocked at the ring,\nAnd who so ready as Lady Margaret\nTo rise and to let him in.\n74B.3 Down then came her father dear,\nClothed all in blue:\n\u2018I pray, Sweet William, tell to me\nWhat love\u2019s between my daughter and you?\u2019\n74B.4 \u2018I know none by her,\u2019 he said,\n\u2018And she knows none by me;\nBefore tomorrow at this time\nAnother bride you shall see.\u2019\n74B.5 Lady Margaret at her bower-window,\nCombing of her hair,\nShe saw Sweet William and his brown bride\nUnto the church repair.\n74B.6 Down she cast her iv\u2019ry comb,\nAnd up she tossd her hair,\nShe went out from her bowr alive,\nBut never so more came there.\n74B.7 When day was gone, and night was come,\nAll people were asleep,\nIn glided Margaret\u2019s grimly ghost,\nAnd stood at William\u2019s feet.\n74B.8 \u2018How d\u2019ye like your bed, Sweet William?\nHow d\u2019ye like your sheet?\nAnd how d\u2019ye like that brown lady,\nThat lies in your arms asleep?\u2019\n74B.9 \u2018Well I like my bed, Lady Margaret,\nAnd well I like my sheet;\nBut better I like that fair lady\nThat stands at my bed\u2019s feet.\u2019\n74B.10 When night was gone, and day was come,\nAll people were awake,\nThe lady waket out of her sleep,\nAnd thus to her lord she spake.\n74B.11 \u2018I dreamd a dream, my wedded lord,\nThat seldom comes to good;\nI dreamd that our bowr was lin\u2019d with white swine,\nAnd our brid-chamber of blood.\u2019\n74B.12 He called up his merry men all,\nBy one, by two, by three,\n\u2018We will go to Lady Margaret\u2019s bower,\nWith the leave of my wedded lady.\u2019\n74B.13 When he came to Lady Margaret\u2019s bower,\nHe knocked at the ring,\nAnd who were so ready as her brethren\nTo rise and let him in.\n74B.14 \u2018Oh is she in the parlor,\u2019 he said,\n\u2018Or is she in the hall?\nOr is she in the long chamber,\nAmongst her merry maids all?\u2019\n74B.15 \u2018She\u2019s not in the parlor,\u2019 they said,\n\u2018Nor is she in the hall;\nBut she is in the long chamber,\nLaid out against the wall.\u2019\n74B.16 \u2018Open the winding sheet,\u2019 he cry\u2019d,\n\u2018That I may kiss the dead;\nThat I may kiss her pale and wan\nWhose lips used to look so red.\u2019\n74B.17 Lady Margaret [died] on the over night,\nSweet William died on the morrow;\nLady Margaret die for pure, pure love,\nSweet William died for sorrow.\n74B.18 On Margaret\u2019s grave there grew a rose,\nOn Sweet William\u2019s grew a briar;\nThey grew till they joind in a true lover\u2019s knot,\nAnd then they died both together.\n74C: Fair Margaret and Sweet William\n74C.1 As Margaret stood at her window so clear,\nA combing back her hair,\nShe saw Sweet William and his gay bride\nUnto the church draw near.\n74C.2 Then down she threw her ivory comb,\nShe turned back her hair;\nThere was a fair maid at that window,\nShe\u2019s gone, she\u2019ll come no more there.\n74C.3 In the night, in the middle of the night,\nWhen all men were asleep,\nThere walkd a ghost, Fair Margaret\u2019s ghost,\nAnd stood at his bed\u2019s feet.\n74C.4 Sweet William he dremed a dream, and he said,\n\u2018I wish it prove for good;\nMy chamber was full of wild men\u2019s wine,\nAnd my bride-bed stood in blood.\u2019\n74C.5 Then he calld up his stable-groom,\nTo saddle his nag with speed:\n\u2018This night will I ride to Fair Margaret\u2019s bowr,\nWith the leave of my lady.\n74C.6 \u2018Oh is Fair Margaret in the kitchen?\nOr is she in the hall?\n. . . . .\n. . . .\n74C.7 \u2018No, she is not in the kitchen,\u2019 they cryed,\n\u2018Nor is she in the hall;\nBut she is in the long chamber,\nLaid up against the wall.\u2019\n74C.8 Go with your right side to Newcastle,\nAnd come with your left side home,\nThere you will see those two lovers\nLie printed on one stone.","title":"The Child Ballads: 74. Fair Margaret and Sweet William","type":"page"}