{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/eng/child/ch085.htm","path":"neu/eng/child/ch085.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch085.htm","text":"85A.1 LADY ALICE was sitting in her bower-window,\nMending her midnight quoif,\nAnd there she saw as fine a corpse\nAs ever she saw in her life.\n85A.2 \u2018What bear ye, what bear ye, ye six men tall?\nWhat bear ye on your shoulders?\u2019\n\u2018We bear the corpse of Giles Collins,\nAn old and true lover of yours.\u2019\n85A.3 \u2018O lay him down gently, ye six men tall,\nAll on the grass so green,\nAnd tomorrow, when the sun goes down,\nLady Alice a corpse shall be seen.\n85A.4 \u2018And bury me in Saint Mary\u2019s church,\nAll for my love so true,\nAnd make me a garland of marjoram,\nAnd of lemon-thyme, and rue.\u2019\n85A.5 Giles Collins was buried all in the east,\nLady Alice all in the west,\nAnd the roses that grew on Giles Collins\u2019s grave,\nThey reached Lady Alice\u2019s breast.\n85A.6 The priest of the parish he chanced to pass,\nAnd he severed those roses in twain;\nSure never were seen such true lovers before,\nNor eer will there be again.\n85B: Lady Alice\n85B.1 GILES COLLINS he said to his old mother,\nMother, come bind up my head,\nAnd sent to the parson of our parish,\nFor tomorrow I shall be dead. dead,\nFor tomorrow I shall be dead.\n85B.2 His mother she made him some water-gruel,\nAnd stirrd it round with a spoon;\nGiles Collins he ate up his water-gruel,\nAnd died before \u2019twas noon.\n85B.3 Lady Anna was sitting at her window,\nMending her night-robe and coif;\nShe saw the very prettiest corpse\nShe\u2019d seen in all her life.\n85B.4 \u2018What bear ye there, ye six strong men,\nUpon your shoulders so high?\u2019\n\u2018We bear the body of Giles Collins,\nWho for love of you did die.\u2019\n85B.5 \u2018Set him down, set him down,\u2019 Lady Anna she cry\u2019d,\n\u2018On the grass that grows so green;\nTomorrow, before the clock strikes ten,\nMy body shall lye by hisn.\u2019\n85B.6 Lady Anna was buried in the east,\nGiles Collins was buried in the west;\nThere grew a lilly from Giles Collins\nThat touchd Lady Anna\u2019s breast.\n85B.7 There blew a cold north-easterly wind,\nAnd cut this lilly in twain,\nWhich never there was seen before,\nAnd it never will again.\n85[C]: Lady Alice\n85[C].1 Giles Collin he said to his mother one day,\nOh, mother, come bind up my head!\nFor tommorow morning before it is day\nI\u2019m sure I shall be dead.\n85[C.2] \u2018Oh, mother, oh, mother, if I should die,\nAnd I am sure I shall,\nI will not be buried in our churchyard,\nBut under Lady Alice\u2019s wall.\u2019\n85[C.3] His mother she made him some water-gruel,\nAnd stirred it up with a spoon;\nGiles Collin he ate but one spoonful,\nAnd died before it was noon.\n85[C.4] Lady Alice was sitting in her window,\nAll dressed in her night-coif;\nShe saw as pretty a corpse go by\nAs ever she\u2019d seen in her life.\n85[C.5] \u2018What bear ye there, ye six tall men?\nWhat bear ye on your shourn?\u2019\n\u2018We bear the body of Giles Collin,\nWho was a true lover of yourn.\u2019\n85[C.6] \u2018Down with him, down with him, upon the grass,\nThe grass that grows so green;\nFor tomorrow morning before it is day\nMy body shall lie by him.\u2019\n85[C.7] Her mother she made her some plum-gruel,\nWith spices all of the best;\nLady Alice she ate but one spoonful,\nAnd the doctor he ate up the rest.\n85[C.8] Giles Collin was laid in the lower chancel,\nLady Alice all in the higher;\nThere grew up a rose from Lady Alice\u2019s breast,\nAnd from Giles Collin\u2019s a briar.\n85[C.9] And they grew, and they grew, to the very church-top,\nUntil they could grow no higher,\nAnd twisted and twined in a true-lover\u2019s knot,\nWhich made all the parish admire.","title":"The Child Ballads: 85. Lady Alice","type":"page"}